


The Canary of Starling City

by The_White_Wolf



Series: The Canary of Starling City [1]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, chosen family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2019-10-23 23:44:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 24,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17693429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_White_Wolf/pseuds/The_White_Wolf
Summary: Laurel Lance returns to Starling City years after finding out about The Gambit. She cleans up the city by day as an attorney and by night as a vigilante. Her crusade to clean up her city pits her against Daniel Brickwell.





	1. Always trying to save the world.

**Author's Note:**

> I have always thought that Laurel Lance and Matt Murdock had many similarities. And this story follows my interpretation of what if Laurel had become a vigilante before Oliver had returned home to start his crusade. Follows closely with Daredevil Season 1.

In the early hours of the morning on Starling City’s port, a small group of men was dragging a handful of young women into a shipping container, women who would end up living a life of sexual servitude.

During the entire ordeal, the women were screaming out into the darkness, pleading and praying for someone, anyone to save them.

Eventually one of the men walked up to the frightened women that he and his men held captive.

“You pretty ladies will make me and my friends, some serious money. If you make it easy for us, we will let you have a bucket if not...” He then pulled out a handheld taser towards them and sparked it.

The girls screamed in fear. The leader who had just attempted to bargain with his captives sighed in annoyance, as he shocked them before throwing their limp bodies into the shipping container.

Behind the would-be human traffickers, a black silhouette stood a few feet behind them. “I see you like to hurt women.”

The human traffickers turned around seeing a woman dressed in black with a ski mask.

The Woman in Black raised her nightstick. “How about one that likes hits back?” She taunted the men. Before any of the men could react, she slugged the leader across the face with her weapon. He fell to the ground with a groan.

She then dodged the punch from one of the thugs running at her and proceeded to deliver several punches to his partner before turning and throwing her baton at the man as he ran at her again.

The Woman in Black looked around to see the men were unconscious. She then walked up to the women who were still very much frightened. She raised her hands to indicate that she wouldn’t harm them.

“Are you all right? No broken bones?” She asked as she glanced at the captives, checking for any visible injuries. “They didn’t touch you?”

The captives shook their head. Their saviour nodded. “When you leave this yard, go west and find the first police officer on patrol. Officer Todd should be near the park.”

The women nodded as one of them grabbed their saviour by the arm and thank her before running with the rest of the former captives.

As the Woman in Black watched the girls leave, she smiled, before going back to the unconscious thugs to zip-cuff them.

____

The next morning, Laurel woke up to the sound of her phone alerting her of a call. She rolled over her bed to grab her phone to check the time. Eight-Thirty in the morning. She sighed. She must have slept through her alarm this morning.

She answered the phone. “Hello?” She groggily asked.

The voice of Joanna De La Vega answered. “Laurel. Where are you? We have to meet the realtor in an hour.”  


She groaned. As she did, she felt a bruise that had formed to the right of her stomach. “I will be there as soon as I can.”

Her friend must have noticed her groggy demeanour. “Did you meet a guy last night?’

Laurel’s lips slightly upturned.

_Not in the way you think Jo._

Instead, she opted for a partial truth. “In a manner of speaking.” She then sat up. “I’ll be there soon.” She then hung up and got ready for work.

____

 

After finding a small office in The Glades, Laurel left the office to allow her friend to fawn over the realtor while she found her father patrolling at a nearby park, ordering a hot dog. “Dad?”

Detective Lance smiled as he embraced his daughter in a hug. “How’s the office hunting going baby?” He was happy that his only living daughter had returned a few weeks ago from law school.

She grinned. “We have just found a small and affordable office suite in The Glades. Jo is just helping set up our furniture and whatnot, while I came here to speak to you.”

Lance smiled awkwardly. “What exactly do you want me to do?”

“I was wondering if you could help your daughter start up her business, by giving me a heads up if someone we can defend comes up. We need to start building a client base and word of mouth is one of the best kind of ways to do that.”

He shook his head. “I don’t know baby…”

“Look, I’m not asking you to do anything immoral. I’m asking you, dad, to give me a call if someone needs help.”

Lance gave his daughter a small knowing look. “I’m not gonna recommend my only living daughter to defend scumbags.”

She was quick to defend her position. “Not every person who is brought in your precinct is a bad guy. Some are misguided or falsely accused and need help. CNRI can be that help. I can help those people so they receive justice.”

He shook his head, only this time with a small proud smile. “I will do what I can. But no promises.” He then kissed her on the cheek. “I missed you, baby, I’m glad you are home.” He then left.

“Thanks, Daddy. I love you too.” She called after him.

____

Thea was speeding way above the speed limit and narrowly collided with another driver travelling in the opposite direction. She swerved her car at the last minute and her car skidded down an embankment.

____

Later that night, Lance sighed. The younger sibling of Oliver Queen, the bastard who cheated on his eldest daughter with his youngest, and due to his dalliance got Sara killed. He read the report and saw that she had been tested by the hospital staff following her accident, and was confirmed to be driving under the influence.

As much as he wanted the Queen family to suffer for what Oliver did to his family. Quintin felt his heartstrings twist at the thought of a young person who was likely in just as much pain as he and Laurel were, suffer needlessly.

He then thought of his talk with Laurel. The Youngest Queen was likely lost. If Queen’s upbringing was any indication, Thea was also likely not guided down a better path. Perhaps, they could stop Thea from following her brother’s footsteps.

To prevent another family from experiencing another Gambit. To avoid Laurel from losing another sister.

He pulled out his phone, hoping that Laurel would take the case. “Laurel?”

He heard his daughter pant. “Yeah, Dad?”

“I have a potential client. You may wanna get down here quick before her family lawyer’s up for her.”

“Who is she?”

“You know her, baby. It’s Queen’s sister.” He answered carefully.

The line was silent for a few moments. So, he spoke again. “Baby?” He was worried that the mentioning of The Queen family may bring bad memories for his daughter. “You there? I could just call a public prosecutor?”

“Yeah. No. Umm… I will call Jo, and I will quickly shower and leave the gym. We will take Thea’s case.”

A half an hour later, Laurel and Jo met just outside of the interrogation room Thea was held in. As they walked in Thea’s eyes went wide as she saw someone she hadn’t seen in years. “Laurel?” She asked in shock.

Laurel gave a small smile before sitting across from her with Jo sitting beside her. “Hey, Speedy.”

Thea despite her dishevelled appearance gave a small snort of derision at the name. “Worst nickname ever.”

“Well, you seem to be living up to the name.”  The attorney replied with worry.

Thea shrugged. “Are you and your friend, my Lawyers?”

Laurel smiled. “If Moira agrees, you will be our first client.”

Jo tapped her partner on the arm and whispered. “You’re not counting when we were Interned at ArmerTek?”

“No, I was counting from when we had our own office.”

“Sure.”

Laurel then asked Jo, to find out if Moira would agree to allow CNRI to represent her daughter. When Jo left to find the number to the Queen matriarch, Thea noticed Laurel eyeing her with worry.

“What?” The Queen scion asked.

“You ok, Thea?”

She once again shrugged. “Mom is never around. If she is, she doesn’t care about me, we stopped celebrating the holidays. Drugs… Alcohol, it’s how I cope with losing Ollie and Dad. I know Ollie wasn’t a saint by any stretch of the imagination, but losing him and Dad at the same time. Knowing that their bodies are fish food…”

Laurel gently grabbed the younger woman’s hands. “If Moira allows it.” She then quickly amended her line of thought. “Even if she doesn’t want me representing you because of our past…. I’m back now, Speedy. You could intern with me after school. Earn extra credit and avoid bad crowds. Nip your drug and alcohol habit in the bud.”

A tear escaped Thea’s eye. “Even after Ollie?”

Laurel stood up and embraced the younger woman, who she once considered her adopted baby sister. “Ollie shouldn’t affect our relationship, Speedy. And when I get you out of here, I will shout us some food and we can go home to my place and watch a movie.”

Thea nodded. “Thank you.” She mumbled into Laurel’s crimson sweater.” She then pulled back and wrinkled her nose. “You smell!"

Laurel chuckled. “Dad called. I was going to shower, but I couldn’t leave you here to rot. So, I rushed to get changed and left the gym as fast as I could.”

After organising an agreement with Moira and later with Captain Stein and Quintin.

Moira had accepted the agreement to allow CNRI to represent her daughter. The agreement that was reached between CNRI and the SCPD, was that if Thea refrained from illegal activities, and told them the supplier of the drugs. No charges would be pressed. They had twenty-four hours for a name.

Laurel took the youngest Queen to her apartment. “Pizza or Chinese?” She asked as she followed Thea in who sat on the couch.

“Pizza.”

Laurel nodded as she threw the menu at her reunited little sister. “You call. I seem to recall someone not so subtly informing me that I need to shower.

Thea laughed as she pulled her phone to her ear as Laurel went to have a shower.”

A few hours later, a few movies watched and a pizza devoured. Laurel had set up her bedroom for her guest.

“I can’t kick you out of your bed.”

Laurel quirked her brow. “Is it kicking me out if I volunteer?”

“Touché.”

Laurel lied on her sofa. Not sleeping, just resting as she heard a floorboard creak, as Thea snuck out of the apartment, wearing one of Laurel’s Wild Cat Gym hoodies. After a few seconds, Laurel sighed as she walked over to her office and pulled a small trunk from the bottom shelf, revealing her black attire.


	2. Triad, Drugs and a Queen

Somewhere in a semi-constructed office building, a group of people stood. Up in the higher levels, the brisk wind that foreshadowed the winter bit through their clothes.

A lithe middle-aged man shuddered at the cold. "Damn cold winds. Next time we convene, I propose that we meet somewhere where frostbite or the cold will not be an issue." He then turned to one of his associates. A younger man with a beard and dark brown hair pulled into a bun. "I will domesticate you soon enough, my friend."

The Russian man smirked. "This Vincent is a but a warm day in Veliky Novgorod."

Vincent looked unamused. "This must be the perfect climate to kidnap young children or women, Sergei." He then looked around the group of people noticing the man dressed in black. His entire face was concealed with a facemask and a hood. "Can you at least pretend to be cold, even if your…ninja get up is keeping you warm?"

The blonde Asian woman smiled as she remarked something in chinses, much to Vincent's chagrin. "Al Sah Her? Sergei? You boys speak Chinese?"

The ninja merely turned his head slightly and palmed his sword on his hip as Sergei scowled at the businessman. "Adler, I'm Russian, He's Arabic."

Vincent rose his hands in defeat. "I know. It's just…Geographically the Middle East and Russia are closer to China, than America. I took a guess that perhaps your home counties thought you Chinese."

Just then a bald African American man in a well-fitted suit walked out of the elevator. "I appreciate you gentlemen and Ms White waiting for me. My employer, he is attending to other important matters. He sends his apologies."

Sergei walked slowly towards Mr Blank. "I do not negotiate with lackeys. Tell Mister…"

Mr Blank's face remained impassive as he interjected. "My employer wishes his name remains ambiguous. I'm sure you understand." Sergei in anger walked past the man.

Mr Blank looked over his shoulder. "He would like to know, however, what caused the delay in your shipments."

That caused Sergei to halt. "A problem at the docks. A woman dressed in black. Beat my men with her bare hands.

China White smiled as she asked in Chinese if the woman kept the girls.

"No. She released them into the wilds." Sergei answered.

Mr Blank gave a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Perhaps, you should worry about this woman. Not the hierarchy of our little group of businesses."

Sergei walked up to Blank, his face inches away from the other man. "Deal with Prohaszka, then we talk further."

"it's being taken care of." Assured Blank.

_____

Thea wandered the streets before finding the location of her dealer. As she walked up, to him. The man scowled.

"Little Lady hasn't paid her debt. You never told me that you were loaded. The price has retroactively been increased." He then pulled out a switchblade and advanced upon Thea. "Time to pay up!"

Before the man could advance, The Woman in Black jumped from the fire escape and landed on the man's shoulder sending him to the ground.

This allowed Thea enough time to hide from the drug dealer, as both fighters slowly raised. The Drug Dealer lunged for the Woman in Black, who narrowly missed the blade slicing at her neck.

After a flurry of punches and kicks from both sides, the man picked up the vigilante by the waist with ease and threw her across the ground and down the concrete steps.

_Laurel was Sparing with Ted at his gym in Central City. He had just used a technique to disarm her and send her flying over his shoulder and hitting the mat hard._

_He gave her a hand and lifted her up. "It's not about how you fall down on the mat, it's about whether you get back up."_

She felt her warm blood from her nose soak into her balaclava. As she haphazardly got to her feet, she murmured about getting back up.

She ducked the blade that was aimed at her again and sent a hard kick to the man's knee. Hearing the sickening crunch as her boot collided with his knee. He then, like her earlier rolled down the steps. She threw the man's knife away and waked up to find a sachet of drugs with a small red Chinese dragon emblazed on it. Ted had taught her various symbols and icons linked to the underworld. She knew what this symbol meant; The Triad.

She held up the sachet, with her middle and index finger towards Thea. As she activated her voice modulator. "Triad, Drugs and a Queen."

Thea looked so terrified. "I never knew that he was a Triad. I swear!"

"I'm taking him to the police. You should go home. "The woman in Black grabbed the man and hauled him off towards to police with his stash of drugs on him. Enough to be charged with intent to sell.

Thea returned to Laurel's apartment to find Laurel missing. A few minutes later, Laurel walked through the door with a bruised and swollen nose.

Thea ran to the freezer and handed her an ice pack. "What the hell happened to you?" She asked worried for her friend.

"I slipped and fell. I went looking for you out at night in the rain. I slipped down some stairs, and my nose hit the railing. Nothing is broken though, it's just swollen."

Thea bit her lip. "About that Laurel, I found out that the guy that sold me the drugs was a part of The Chinese Mafia."

"We will call my dad in the morning, until then. Please don't leave the house in the middle of the night. "

That following morning, Laurel and Thea made their way down to the precinct to have Thea identify the man. Thus, upholding her bargain with Detective Lance.

Thea smiled as the two sisters left the building. "You sure that you want me to still be your intern?"

Laurel grinned. "Intern, office manager. When we get some money, we will split it between the three of us. As long as you keep away from drugs and underage drinking."

_____

Driving down the streets of Starling, Mr Blank is sitting in the back of a town car speaking to his boss. "Mister Jones will have his bail set and he will overdose of pills later tonight. Adler has had all of our and China White's financial connections to him scrubbed."

"Good." Replied the other end of the line. "How was Li subdued?"

"That is being looked into as we speak. What about the girl? Queen?"

"Killing her won't do much for us. All she knows has been told to the police. Nothing can be linked to us. Besides, killing the last heir to the Queen Dynasty will rain hell upon us. Her Lawyers…"

"CNRI. Ambulance and siren chasers. Though Miss Lance does have a history with the Queen family. I've been told, It's a messy one at that."

"Start a file on Miss Lance and…"

"Joanna De Vega." Blank supplied.


	3. CNRI

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Arrow is doing it again, insulting Laurel and the Lance’s for the sake of Felicity and Olicity. Blackstar had all the potential and characteristics to be the daughter of Laurel. She was snarky and rude and seemed to agree with Laurel’s opinions of vigilantes in the documentary. As of right now, the Lance family has no legacy in the flash forwards. 
> 
> Well, on with the show.

A week after the incident involving Thea, Moira and Walter had returned from their business trip from Sydney.

They made their way down to the CNRI offices. Moira looked around the quaint office building, feeling slightly uncomfortable at the building, noticing the wallpaper and the decor of the complex was from the early sixties.

Eventually, the married couple walked up to the off-white coloured door and an opaque window with the words;

**CNRI OFFICES**

**JOANNA DE LA VEGA- ATTORNEY AT LAW**

**DINAH LAUREL LANCE- ATTORNEY AT LAW**

Moira smiled. She was hesitant to allow ambulance chasers to help her family.

After all, what would that look like to the public and the tabloid journalists? That all changed when she heard Joanna De La Vega mention her partner's name.

Laurel Lance.

The young woman she thought that would eventually become her future daughter-in-law. A young woman that she respected, a girl who was always well mannered and got along well with both her; rambunctious Oliver and seemed to have taken her youngest child, under her wing and treated her like a second younger sister.

That all changed the night that she heard the news about The Gambit.

When Moira, found out from the dockmaster, that Oliver had invited Sara on-board, and knowing Oliver, it was not for platonic reasons.

She informed both Quintin and Laurel about Oliver, Robert and Sara. She hated that she had to tear open their hearts and memories of Sara and Oliver.

A few months later, Laurel had packed up and moved from Starling to Central City. Thomas Merlyn had explained to her that Laurel had been offered a scholarship at CCU prior to The Gambit, and was planning on rejecting it, but accepted it seemingly out of nowhere.

Not nowhere. She surmised. After she lost her sister and her boyfriend and finding out what they were doing behind her back when they died. She couldn't stay in this city.

To Moira's knowledge the eldest Lance daughter never visited Starling, and if she did, she never spoke to her, Thea or the Merlyn's. Not that she could blame her, of course, nor Detective Lance for keeping her visits quiet.

Too many melancholic and bad memories. Not to mention the bad blood.

The Queen Matriarch was broken from her reverie as Walter gently pushed her past the door and into the office. Upon being guided inside by her husband, Moira glanced around the spartan office suite eventually laying eyes on Thea and a wirier Laurel. They were in what she assumed to be Laurel's office.

As Moira studied the two girls, noted that Laurel was no longer lithe, but had put on muscle. Evidently, she had also dyed her hair from her natural brown to a dirty blonde.

Laurel Lance, had certainly changed since leaving Starling. She idly wondered just how much of her had changed.

Walter walked to the front desk and hit a small silver desk bell. Both girls looked up. Thea's face remained happy while Laurel's immediately became impassive, yet welcoming.

Her business attitude apparently. Moira assumed.

They walked out as both Walter and Laurel watch Moira embrace Thea and cooing into her ear softly. She then stood back and looked towards Laurel.

"Thank you, my dear."

Laurel just smiled. "It was no problem, Mrs Queen, Mr Steel."

"Nonsense, I am more than aware of the awkwardness of this endeavour, you put yourself in, just to help my daughter." She then gave the dirty blonde lawyer a grateful smile. "Then you allowed my daughter to live with you for the week."

"No, it was not awkward. In fact, Thea was hired as our office manager, when she is not at School."

"Is that right?" Moira asked. Despite, all that Laurel had seemingly changed, her sincerity had remained. It was a trait that she found refreshing in her world.

Thea preened at the thought that her mother was proud and taking an interest in her life. "Yup."

"How much do I owe you and your firm, Miss Lance?" Walter asked.

Laurel walked back into her office and pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to him. "A standard fee."

Walter smiled at the number. He had expected the number to be a lot higher, considering the profile of his stepdaughter and his family. A lot of people would have inflated the charge to get as much money as possible, especially an up and coming one company or, in this case, a firm.

"I will pay your fee now and wire the money over to your firm, including a bonus."

"There is no need…"

This time Moira shushed the attorney. "It would mean a lot to us to help, such a noble firm that is aimed at assisting those that need help. If it helps, don't consider it a bonus, consider it a philanthropic donation, with no strings attached."

They watched as the attorney's lips thinned in annoyance before she smiled graciously. "Thank you for your generosity."

Later that night, Laurel stood above an apartment complex as she was watching the city below. A bird's eye view.

She decided to run and jump across several roofs until she heard a man, a father begging someone or some people to leave his son alone. A few moments later, she looked down to the street below to see a young boy being dragged while kicking and screaming in vain. The young child was then thrown into the back of an unmarked van, without windows.

She scowled. The men she saw were likely the Russians again. In fact, after the men shouted something at the father, her suspicions were confirmed. She lowered her balaclava and started to chase after the vehicle across the rooftops.

Early in the morning, a brunette walked was walking to her hotel room, when she heard a woman groaning in pain in the alleyway next to the building.

Caitlin walked slowly into the dark alleyway with a taser in hand to finally spot a woman wearing a black leather jacket, pants. While Caitlin approached, she watched as the woman haphazardly fingered her ski mask.

Caitlin ran to the woman, to help her out of the dumpster and slowly up to her room. Ensuring the wheezing and wounded woman kept her mask on. Eventually, she laid the woman on the bed.

She then ran to her medical kit and started to unzip the woman's jacket and assess and patch up the wounds.

A few minutes later, the woman out of now where suddenly gripped Caitlin's forearm. "Who are you?" The woman rasped.

"Dr Snow. A bioengineer, working for STAR Labs. You? Can you tell me your name?"

"Better you don't know. You…" She clutched her side that was bleeding before Caitlin had patched up. "You know… Plausible deniability. Keep you safe."

Caitlin looked down at the woman and noticed the Woman in Black wearing a pendant with a pendant with a small black bird on a gold medallion. "Fine. I'll call you Ava."

"Ava?" She asked while still clutching her wound.

"Ava derives from the Latin word for bird." She then gently pointed at the pendant that had escaped from its confines.

Laurel quickly tucked the pendant back under her tank top. "Thank you, Dr Snow."

On the other side of town, Joanna was knocking on Laurel's door. She had been drinking all night celebrating her firm's first case. Saving a minor, no less from a criminal record and a life of addiction and drug and alcohol abuse.

She knocked hard on the door. "Laurel! Get your ass out here, so we can celebrate!"

Laurel was on the bed gasping for air. Caitlin ran into the room with a syringe as she ran up to the woman. She watched as the other woman clutched at her throat and chest in vain.

"You have a pneumothorax, a collapsed lung. This will hurt." The doctor then punctured Laurel's chest, allowing her to breathe. "Just breathe normally." She advised.

Laurel nodded. As Caitlin continued. "We really should take you to a hospital for x-rays and scans to ensure that no lasting…"

Laurel shook her head. "No Hospitals. No ambulances!"

"Then do mind telling me why we can't go to an actual stoked and qualified people that can actually help you?"

"They kidnapped him." Laurel panted, a small tear escaped her eye. She hated that she had been so reckless "A small boy, can't be much older than five or six."

Caitlin looked shocked. "Who took the boy?" Her stomach twisted at the thought of a small innocent child being kidnapped.

"The Russians. The Russian Mob, that has been operating in the city. I took down one of their shipments filled with young women you could not have been that much older than the age of majority, transports a few nights back."

"Shit." The doctor exclaimed.

"So, I followed them. I knew that the little one would be alive, at least until he was taken out of the city. So, I found them in an old derelict warehouse. Thought I was smart. I Congratulated myself on how fast I got to them."

"But they knew you were coming." Caitlin assumed.

"Yeah," Laurel said with a small sniff. "I fell for their trap. Hook, line and sinker."

"So, this mafia. They took the boy just to get back at you?"

Laurel shrugged. "Like I said. I have been their business rather difficult the past while."

"So, you make it your life's job to make life difficult for bad men."

"That's one way to look at it. I'm just trying to make my city a better place."

Caitlin rolled her eyes. "Don't take this the wrong way, Ava. You're not very good at this."

Laurel gave a small chuckle at that. "Yeah, well… you caught me on a bad night."

"Did you find him? The boy at least?"

Laurel sobered and sullenly shook her head. "No. He was already moved. I barely got out alive." She then looked up at the ceiling. "I was careless and cocky."

A knock was heard at the door. Laurel stumbled up to the door and looked through the spy-hole. And whispered to Caitlin to ask to see the man's badge.

Caitlin did as she was instructed. As Laurel studied the badge she pulled back. "He's not a lieutenant. Their badge number starts with a one."

She looked at the woman she patched up with shock. "How do you..."

"Just answer it and act normal," Laurel commanded the doctor.

She nodded quickly and pulled the door back, as Laurel hid behind it. "Hello?"

"Sorry to disturb your sleep ma'am. I'm Lieutenant Kessel from the SCPD. We had a disturbance a few blocks away. Have you seen or heard anything that is abnormal?"

"What kind of disturbance?"

The fake detective sighed. "Some bitch in a black ski mask decided to rain bullets into a small corner store on 38th and 10. She then left on foot heading in this direction."

"Oh my god."

"No need to fret ma'am. We are just sweeping the area, she's likely long gone. Hot-wired a car or something. So, have you seen anything like that?"

Caitlin shook her head. "Nope. Nothing like that."

The man nodded. "The SCPD appreciates you giving up your time this evening. Have a good night."

Caitlin was about to close the door as Laurel ran out the door to choke the man out. She then looked over at Caitlin. Help me take him to the roof."


	4. Because I Care

Moira walked out of her bedroom to get a glass of water as she heard her only living child crying on the sofa, alone in the darkness.

"Thea?" The Queen Matriarch asked softly, as she approached her daughter.

The teenager looked over to her mother. "Yeah?"

The sight of her child crying broke her heart. "What's wrong, sweetheart? Is this about the drugs?"

"Kind of. I almost died the other night."

Moira embraced her daughter in a comforting hug. "I thought you were with Laurel…" Perhaps Laurel had become less responsible due to her time in Central City? Why hadn't the girl stopped Thea from leaving or followed her?

Thea nodded. "I left her apartment to get a fix. Only, he pulled out a knife saying that I owed him money. He found out who I was and demanded more money ".

Moira nodded. And let her daughter continue. "He was about to kill me… I was so scared." She answered, as her breath hitched. "Then, a Woman dressed in black with a ski mask saved my life."

The older woman then sat on the sofa and embraced her child, and kissing her on the forehead. As much as she appreciates this vigilante saving her daughter, and robbing Moira of her family, she would have to keep an eye on this Woman in Black.

And if need be, she would hand this woman to Malcolm on a golden platter. If only, to keep her family safe. To prove her loyalty to Tempest. She would play the loyal and submissive lieutenant with him, to keep Thea and Walter safe.

* * *

Laurel had just finished suspending the Russian thug from the water tower.

As the fake cop woke, he saw a hooded woman wearing a plastic Frosty the Snowman mask and The Woman in Black.

The Woman in Black stalked towards him, her voice modulated. "I've had a long night. So, let's skip the small talk. I'll ask you questions, and I will know if you are telling the truth. If you want to test me…" She twirled her baton in her hand. "Well, I'm sure you know what will be next."

She then moved in closer to the man. "Where is the boy?"

The Russian smiled. "He's dead. Like all the others, after they were played with."

She delivered a sharp blow to his sternum. The man wheezed. "This is a glimmer of what I look like when I'm getting annoyed." She then whispered in his ear. "What will your brother's say when they see that you have been beaten to a bloody pulp by a girl? Not too happy, I would imagine"

He snarled in anger as she pulled back and twirled her nightstick. "Where is the little one?" She asked again.

"Why do you care? Huh? If he's not in some ditch, he will be."

"Why did you take him?" She asked again in a more determined forceful voice.

"Knew you would come running." The Russian answered snidely.

The vigilante lowered her head and swallowed, before looking up at him "And what would you do to him when I was killed?"

The man smirked. "Sell the kid, like all the others." She then slammed the man in the kneecap with her baton.

A sickening crunch was heard as he howled in pain. "I was telling the truth!" His body remained bound by the zip cuffs holding his wrists above his head.

"I know. It was back-payment, for the others, innocent women and children." She smirked behind the mask. "Now, who are the sick shits you sell children to?"

"Don't know. He answered through his teeth. "Whoever has the money."

"I won't ask again. Where is the little boy you kidnapped?"

"It doesn't matter if you find him. We will take others. A single child won't affect our operations. As long as people are buying, we are selling" He then smirked. "Keep hitting me, see how much that changes the plan."

The Woman in Black gave a small, almost unnoticeable nod. She then pulled out a small pellet from her pocket. Ted had only gotten one of his old contacts to make her a handful. He had practically drilled it into her head that the devices were for emergency use only.

She then indicated to Caitlin to step back and close her ears. She hit a button on the device causing the loud high pitch sound.

The man screamed, thrashing around in the vain attempt of escaping the piercing sound. After for a few moments the sound grenade sparked and ceased from producing the deafening sound.

She then climbed the ladder enough to cut the plastic ties holding him and proceeded to drag him to the ledge. "Where is the little boy?" She growled as she held the man.

The man screamed as she loosened her grip periodically. "Underneath Troika restaurant." As Laurel let the man stand. He gripped the railing as he laughed at her. "My brothers will be waiting for you. You better hope that they kill you before they do anything to the boy, then to you?" He then chuckled. "They will teach you how to be a proper woman."

She was going to grant him mercy. Knock him out. Call the cops. But he lost that luxury. She could hear the blood pumping in her ears. In a then without a second thought, pushed the Russian man off the building and into the dumpster she was hauled out of earlier.

Caitlin screamed and ran past Laurel to look for the criminal. Laurel followed in suit and peered down anxiously, praying that her emotions and recklessness didn't beat her into killing him.

The man groaned from his position. He likely has broken bones from the fall. But he managed to hit the assortment of cardboard and other junk in the bin that broke his fall.

She sighed in relief. Before looking at Caitlin, who looked terrified. "Do you have a place you can stay for the next few days?"

Caitlin nodded. "My friend, His brother has a place in the city I can use."

The blonde walked away from the ledge. "Can you return to Central City?"

The bio-engineer shook her head. "No, my employer wants me to evaluate and ensure we have the correct stock for our upcoming event in a few years."

* * *

After taking out the scouts in the closed restaurant, The Woman in Black found the basement and proceeded with caution. She watched as one of the Russian thugs walked into a room and heard them speak in a jovial matter.

She smirked. She walked down to the door and opened it. Sending a flurry of kicks and punches. In the fight, she was grabbed by a large man. As a smaller one advanced on her, she kicked out sending the man through the door. Between the force and the weight of the man hitting the door, sent it flying off the hinges.

Whilst she was released of the Bratva thug's hold, she released a pellet which produced the sonic screech, allowing her time to move out of the grasp of the man and continue fighting.

The fight flowed out to the hallway. A few men from another room ran out with pistols. She hid behind one of the men she was fighting, who in turn received the bullet meant for her.

After many of them were down, she haphazardly fought the remaining two thugs. All her muscles and limbs ached. She could already feel the bruises that would soon become a nasty purple.

As she limped up to the door where she believed the boy was, she lifted up her mask and walked in.

The small boy was crying and huddled into a corner. "Hey." She cooed as he looked between the boy and her bird medallion, that had escaped the confines of her jacket.

The boy remained still, likely still in shock. She slowly made her way to him and knelt down, ignoring her body screaming its disapproval. "I'm here to take you back to your daddy." She then gently moved the boy's messy hair from his eyes.

The boy nodded and bounded into her arms. "I was so scared. They said that I would never see my daddy again." She could feel her shoulder getting wet with his tears. An indication that she would have to patch up the damaged shoulder of her jacket.

"I know, sweetie. But you were very brave." She then pulled the mask back over her face and carried the small boy to safety.

The small boy clutched on to his savior. "Why are you helping me?"

Laurel looked down at the boy as she traversed the hallway and the stairs. "Because I care." She answered honestly.

The young child tightened his grip and hugged his savior tighter. "Thank you, Miss."

"You're welcome." She answered with a small reassuring smile.


	5. Lucrative Offers

Joanna walked into the office pinching the bridge of her nose and clutching a hot cup of coffee. "Remind me, Thea. The next time I go out celebrating, not to celebrate too much."

Thea looked up, from her desk between the two office suites, and gave Joanna a cheeky smile. "Noted. Jo is a lightweight."

Jo glared at her newest colleague.

Just then Laurel limped into the office with a small set of stitches above her eye, which itself was surrounded by a nasty purple bruise.

The younger woman jumped from her seat and swiftly hugged her big sister in a tight embrace. "Jesus, what happened to your eye?" She asked as she instinctively went to touch the discolored skin surrounding the sutures.

Laurel hissed and flinched as Thea gently touched and examined the bruise. "I was reckless. Drank too much and must have fallen on some steps or something."

Joanna scoffed. "I was looking for you last night, and you were already plastered? You should have called me."

The dirty blonde attorney shrugged. "I got kinda lost in the moment. You know, adrenaline, endorphins…"

Thea was eyeing her sister's wounds, wondering why she seemed to be collecting the injuries recently. Since she had returned back to Starling, she had been collecting stitches and purple splotches that likely adorned her body.

The truth was, Thea was worried that Laurel was too busy helping people, and not taking care of herself.

Before the banter could continue, a knock was heard at the door. Laurel quirked her brow as she checked her watch. "We don't open for another half an hour."

Thea nodded. "I'll let him in, it could be a person who needs legal representation for an emergency and cannot wait." She then walked to the door and opened it.

A well-dressed bald man smiled as the door opened. "Hi." He said as he let himself in with a congenial smile as he looked around the small office space, that still had unopened boxes against a wall. "Can we have a moment to speak?'

Laurel, Joanna, and Thea all looked at each other perplexed before nodding. Taking the man into a small meeting room. The man sat opposite the two lawyers as Thea sat with a notebook and pen at the head of the table.

The man that had yet to introduce his name, he merely listed off this and that about his company. A highlight reel or an advertisement for his un-named company really. He then mentioned that his company scouted the up and coming in Starling to put on their retainer.

"Retainer?" Joanna asked in surprise. The man just gave her a charming smile.

Laurel quirked her brow, something was off about him. He had yet to mention his company and his name. "Why us? Why not a larger firm, Mr…I'm sorry, I missed your name?"

"Confederated Global. Is my employer's company." He added with another charming smile.

Laurel returned him with a similar faux-smile. "That was not what I asked."

"It's the only name that is relevant, Miss Lance."

Laurel hummed while tapping her pen on the desk. "So why choose CNRI?"

Joanna much to Laurel's chagrin answered for the unknown man. "He obviously finds us talented and able to provide more in-depth attention that the larger firms cannot."

The African American man gave a toothy grin. "It was a fair question, Miss De La Vega. My employer does a lot of business here in this beautiful city. And who knows it better than two local girls?" He added with another smile. "Two fine and upstanding women, who graduated from the esteemed CCU. With Cum Laude" He acknowledged Joanna, before Laurel. "And Summa Cum Laude."

Joanna pointed her pen playfully at the man. "The Summa part is politics." This caused the man to chuckle.

"You set up shop in your backyard. And in the Glades no less. A lower socio-economic region and people than some are used to." He looked at Laurel before looking at Thea. "This in spite of the fact that you, Miss De La Vega, was offered a lucrative offer to work with Stagg industries, and Miss Lance here was offered a position at both Merlyn Global Group and Queen Consolidated."

"And we were both asked to be a part of the Lawyer's representing ArmerTek." Joanna added.

"Exactly, lucrative offers." He agreed.

"So, you've done your homework." Laurel added dryly.

"My employer expects no less."

Laurel smiled cordially. Though her tone of voice didn't reflect the smile. "Then forgive me for being blunt."

Joanna smacked Laurel's hand. "Perhaps, not blunt…" She then gave a reassuring smile back to the man representing Confederated Global.

"No, please. I find it refreshing in my career." He said with a dismissive handwave.

The detective's daughter immediately fired a question, asking what exactly is his line of work. One that would definitely make her father proud. "And what is your line of work exactly? It seems like something you have neglected, Mr?"

It was getting on her nerves that the man wanted their firm on retainer, to put faith in him, when they didn't know him or his firm from Adam.

He dodged her question again. Looking at Joanna with another charming smile. "My employer only wants you, two women. To remain ethical and upstanding pillars of the Bar and of your community. Of Starling City and of course, The Glades." He then pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Laurel's partner. "Remember this is merely the starting price, with some wiggle room to negotiate of course."

Joanna seemed to be happy about the money. "Very accommodating," Jo murmured, as she showed her partner, the extravagant amount of money they would receive. They would be able to do so much pro bono work with this money.

"Miss Lance, you don't seem happy about the offer." The businessman noted with polite curiosity.

Laurel clicked her pen and looked the man in the eyes. "CNRI is rather picky about our clientele."

The man turned to look at Thea before looking back at the eldest Lance daughter. "Specific about your clientele?" He repeated cynically. "Tell me, do all your clients receive job offers? Or just ones that happen to be pretty, and or the sister of your deceased boyfriend? DUIs don't look attractive on a resume."

Thea looked rather hurt and looked at her sister and her business partner. Both looked angered by the man's attack. In particular, Laurel's lips thinned.

Thea's surrogate sister turned to face her. "Can you give us a moment please, Thea." As Thea stood up and packed her notepad, Laurel added. "Buy yourself a coffee." She then handed her sister her some money. "It's on me." Thea nodded as she walked out of the board room. Laurel then turned back to the man who attacked her integrity and her baby sister.

"I apologize, I didn't mean to upset anyone." He said as he brushed some lint from his blazer.

Laurel's and Joanna's faces didn't relent from their scowl.

Without allowing him a chance to speak, Laurel immediately fired questions at the man. "How did you know about Miss Queen's situation? It never went to trial, no charge, nothing was in the papers. It was conducted under the discretion of Miss Queen, The SCPD and CNRI."

"I have connections on the force. Not unlike you have, Miss Lance." He then went on to suggest that as both a sign of his remorse and his employer's good faith, he offered one of their cases for CNRI to examine and overlook.

He then looked at his watch and placed a manila folder on the table. "You have roughly an hour to get down to the SCPD."

Joanna grabbed the file. "What's the case?"

"Everything you need to know is in that case. My employer will anticipate your upcoming victory on the case."

He then walked to get his coat. Laurel stood up to help him put it on and discreetly slipped a bug in his jacket. When he left, Laurel followed. She put in her earpiece and waited to see if he would speak.

He walked over to a small convoy of parked black sedans. As he sat in the car he spoke. "It's been taken care of, sir."

She didn't get any more as the cars moved out of range of her receiver. She felt clutched her side. She had to go to Caitlin to redo the stitches.

* * *

When Laurel made it to her office a few hours later, she saw Joanna waiting for her. "I just did the interview. You were right. Something is really weird."

How so?"

Joanna tapped her disposal cup filled with coffee. "He knows Legal terminology. He wants to go straight to trial. I don't think this is his first time crossing the line drawn in the sand."

Laurel nodded. "We take the job. We may not like him. But we need to take this to keep the lights on. "Mrs. Queen's bonus and payment won't last forever."

Her partner nodded. "Ok. Oh, by the way, a handsome guy with black hair and blue eyes picked up Thea. Something about archery classes."

Laurel nodded as the two proceeded to work on their case.

* * *

Mr. Blank walked into the movie theatre, and discreetly picked up the pistol from beneath one of the chairs and walked out. Ensuring that when the location is turned upside down for evidence, nothing would be found. That his employer's organization would be safe.

* * *

As the two lawyers where working, Laurel looked at the cheque that the scummy businessman had given them. To her shock, the payment cleared.

"Hey, Jo, what do you know about the company who hired us?"

Joanna shook her head as he kept making notes. "Confederated Global? Nothing. Maybe your dad can find out for us?"

She nodded and pulled out her phone. "Hello, Dad?"

"Yeah, Baby?"

"You still at work?" She asked as she leaned against the doorframe to her office.

A few moments passed. As Laurel heard chatter in the background and her father moving paperwork around his cluttered desk. "Yeah, I'm working the graveyard shift tonight, what's up?"

"Can you do me a favor and check a company for me?"

Her father agreed and called back a few minutes later. "That company is a subsidiary of another company. And it just keeps on going. Pretty sketchy stuff, what is the case you're working on, Baby?"

"Just trying to ascertain someone's defense." She said. Laurel then thanked her father and bided him a good night before hanging up. She then relayed the new information back to her partner.

* * *

After Joanna had made her closing argument, Laurel heard the door open, and the man who had given CNRI the case to defend this scum bag sat down. She also noticed a woman on the jury looked rattled.

* * *

The woman who was rattled walked down the dimly lit road from the courthouse and was met with a larger man. He dropped a cigarette from his both and quashed it on the ground with his shoe. "Keep it together, lady."

Laurel, dressed in her black suit stalked in the shadows as she heard the man blackmail the woman. The woman then fled as he turned away to light another cigarette.

She ran up behind him and used her baton on the back of his knees sending him to the ground. Before, she push-kicked him down on to the pavement.

"Stay down!" She growled as she stood above him.

"Bitch!" He yelled.

The Woman in Black held him down with her boot to his chest, Applying pressure. "I don't like that word." She then released pressure on his chest. "What do you have on her?"

"A dirty tape of her, when she was nineteen." He answered with his teeth clenched. "A mistake she made, that she doesn't want her family to know about."

"Delete or destroy the footage." She commanded the man with a low growl.

"Can't." He cried.

"Don't believe I asked." She applied more pressure.

"It won't make a difference anyway." He grunted beneath the pressure on his chest.

"You can't get rid of it because your boss has it right?" She asked as she applied more pressure before releasing some. "Then it is your lucky night. Tell me his or her name and no more pain tonight. A name and the pain goes away!"

"No name. If I don't do this, someone else will receive an alert. A light in a window."

"Tell her to excuse herself from the jury."

"They will kill me!" He revealed. He looked terrified.

"Then you better do it quickly and properly and leave my city. Or if you want to turn over another leaf, turn yourself into the SCPD." She then ran into the dark alley perpendicular to where the man now rested on the cement.

* * *

"Would the defense like to make any closing statements?" The judge asked.

Laurel nodded. "Yes, your honor." She then stood. She then walked past her table and stood before the jury. "My client claims self-defense. That he defended himself from the victim, Mr. Prohaszka. This trial is not about weather… is a moral man or if he is an upstanding citizen. This is about whether my client acted within the confines of the law. Thank you."

After her speech was made her and her partner left the courtroom and were called back in an hour later.

Joanna looked towards Laurel. "It's not a good sign that we have been called back."

Laurel nodded slightly and followed her partner and sat on either side of their client.

The Jury informed the judge that there was not going to be a clear decision made by the jury.

Joanna leaned towards her client and Laurel. "Hung jury. They are likely going to remove the jury and start again."

Laurel pursed her lips before looking at her client. The man's triumphant upturned lips made her skin crawl. "That's not the case is it, Mr. O'Keeffe?"

"It was a beautiful speech, Miss Lance. Truly, almost as beautiful as my two attorneys." He then gave both of them a suggestive wink.

Both women shuffled their seats slightly away from their client and left after the verdict was made.

* * *

The Woman in Black watched as O'Keeffe was packing up his possessions and stuffed it into the back of his old car.

She jumped from the fire escape and narrowly missed him, as her knee collided with the rear window of the car. Before she could recover, O'Keeffe threw her on the ground.

She after exchanging blows, she eventually pinned him on against the building with her baton held tightly against his throat.

The man suddenly looked frightened. "Who are you?" He asked.

"I'm the justice that you cannot run from!" She then applied a little more pressure before relieving the pressure. "Who do you work for?"

He shook his head. "I can't."

"Can't or won't?" She applied more pressure on his throat.

The man chocked for a few seconds before she relaxed her arms, to allow him to breathe and talk. "Brick…Daniel Brickwell. "

She nodded, and stood back as he fell to, he knees gasping for air. "Word of advice. Get out of my city! Between me, and now your former associates. You have a lot of enemies now."

"No!" He practically yelled at the vigilante.

"You don't want to test me." She warned. "You don't wanna make my night worse."

"This is not about you! I gave up his name…Oh god! He's gonna make me an example, torture…my family and friends!" Tears fell from his eyes as he yelled at the woman who had ruined his life.

The vigilante took a few steps towards him with her hands raised showing that she did not intend to harm him. "I have contacts, I can get you and your family into protective custody."

"Won't help. He will find me." He then snarled at The Woman in Black. "You should have killed me, you coward!" He then walked over to the fence and impaled himself through the eye."

The vigilante dry retched at the sight before she quickly fled the scene.


	6. Kanareyka

After Laurel was finished getting patched up by Caitlin. Caitlin turned from her cup of coffee and looked at the woman who saved the lives of many women from being sexually assaulted and others being mugged.

"You should consider body armor."

Laurel quirked her brow. "Like a protective vest?" She asked rhetorically before answering it. "Thought about it, but it's too large and cumbersome."

"A blade or a bullet can also restrict your movements."

Laurel smiled. "I'm a big girl." She then handed her a burner phone. "My number is programmed in. So, if I need you or vice versa. Even if you believe that you won't need to contact me. Call it a piece of mind."

* * *

Mr. Blank walked into the Bratva's mechanic and depot for their taxis. He handed Sergei a small envelope. "Mr. Prohaszka's business has been liquidated and has been transferred into several dummy accounts before it was put into your business's account."

Sergei thanked the man. "Myself and my brothers thank you and your employer."

Blank seemed unaffected by the man's gratitude. "My employer has yet to receive your portion for the week."

Sergei scowled. "My second, Alexi." He pointed at the bald middle-aged mechanic. He informs me that The Woman in Black has been complicating matters. Making our business transactions rather…difficult."

"That is not mine nor my employer's concern." Blank reminded the Bratva leader.

"Perhaps, but she has been asking for your employers."

"She's becoming an issue? It's one woman!" Blank then grinned condescendingly. "If she was faster than a speeding bullet, or more powerful than a locomotive. Then, then she should be considered a problem. In fact, both China White and Mr. Al Sah Her, have expressed their bewilderment and annoyance that The Bratva cannot handle a little girl in a ski mask."

"You think us weak?" Sergei asked darkly.

Blank nodded simply. "Business can be a brutal endeavor. You being late on your end causes issues elsewhere like; White and her heroin. Without that profit, we cannot keep our heads above the water. My employer has offered to assist your so-called brotherhood. It is doubtful that the Solntsevskaya Bratva will enjoy such an arrangement, however."

"Tell Mister Brickw..."

Blank cut him off. "Do not say his name."

Sergei continued as he walked bridged the gap between them. "Tell Mister Brickwell, if he wants to take a pound of flesh, he can be a man and come carve it for himself. We are not hiding."

Blank clapped his hands together and rested them against his chin before speaking. "The ball is in your proverbial court. The decision on how we proceed is in your hands, not my employer's."

Sergei left with his second, Alexi to wake up their brother who was put into a coma.

After he was woken up, they asked him what he saw and who did this to him.

" _Kanareyka_ …The Canary…The bitch... She… threw me off the…Roof." He wheezed, still delirious from being in a coma. He then mentioned another woman and described her and where she was living.

* * *

"What about the crazy woman running around?" Mr. Blank asked his employer.

Brick looked out the window of his town car. "If the Bratva cannot handle with her. I will have to make other arrangements."

Laurel and Joanna just left the SCPD, as they left Joanna sighed loudly and dramatically. "My Mom wanted me to be a chef. Follow in her footsteps."

Laurel rolled her eyes. "Not the chef story again."

"Helping the helpless is noble, Laurel. But what if not accepting ArmerTek's offer was the wrong decision?"

"You hated working there. Besides, knowing that we helped someone who needed it is its own reward." Her phone then started ringing. She picked it up and saw Caitlin's number. She excused herself and got into her car and drove towards her new place.

She ran into to find upturned furniture and a car skidding off in another direction.

* * *

Caitlin was in the mechanic's garage being beaten up by some Bratva thugs.

One of the thugs twirled a metal baseball bat. "Tell us who she is or we hurt you."

Caitlin spat out some blood. "I don't know who she is!"

The man purposely narrowly missed her head, instead of breaking the window of the vehicle behind her. Causing her to shriek in fear.

"Tell me his name!" He bellowed. "I don't enjoy this. I really don't, so help us to help you."

Caitlin spat on the man's boot. "Threaten me again, and The Canary will cripple you. She'll maim you and you will wish you were dead!" Just then the lights went out in the garage. Caitlin gave a dry laugh. "You want to meet her? Ask her to sing for you then!"

A loud high pitch sound echoed in the garage. As the Woman in Black systematically took out each of the distracted thugs. She then helped Caitlin leave the building.

* * *

Sergei and Alexi rushed into the garage seeming shattered glass and his brothers groaning in pain or lying unconscious.

Sergei and Alexi turned to one of their brother's that escorted them there. "Ivan, speak to Brickwell. Tell him we accept his help."

* * *

Thea was arranging some old office equipment that Queen Consolidated considered out of date. As she mentally took note of what she and some of the lower level employees at her family's company hauled into the small office space.

Joanna walked in as Thea was looking around. The younger woman turned and looked slightly abashed. "Don't get mad." She said cautiously. "I'm not being like my mother and throwing money at you and Laurel."

Joanna quirked her brow. "What is all this then?" she asked as her hand swept around the room at the office equipment.

"I wanted to thank both of you for helping me. Not just with the drugs and the job but helping me with my studies." Thea then leaned against her desk. "Laurel and you have turned my life around, given me a purpose."

Joanna shook her head. "That's not true. You turned your own life around. You could have rejected Laurel's offer to have us represent you, or declined deal we arranged with the SCPD and the offer for you to work with us. That was all you."

* * *

Sergei was speaking to Mr. Blank about the disappearance of Ivan following his meeting with Brickwell.

During the small conference, Alexi walked in and whispered to Sergei that they found their brother. And warned him that it was not a pleasant sight.

Ivan then was brought in. His head had been violently decapitated. It was not a clean kill. Sergei felt his brother's jacket and found a black mask. " _Kanareyka!"_

Mr. Blank schooled his emotions. "The Woman in Black. She sends a message to the Bratva?"

Sergei ignored him and turned to Alexi. "Send out our brothers. I want The Canary's wings clipped and her head given to me!"


	7. Rise of The Canary

China White, Al Sah Her, and Adler waited for Brick to leave his town car. As he walked out, he adjusted his overcoat. His second was a few paces behind him.

"I apologize for my repeated absences." Brick said to his cabal.

Adler looked around. "Where is Sergei Mishnev?"

"The Solntsevskaya Bratva is no longer a part of our joint operations." Brick answered carefully.

The ninja spoke Arabic as all of the cabal members looked towards Mr. Blank for translation.

"Al Sah Her wishes to know why that is the case."

"He pissed me off, so, I made one of his brothers a head shorter, with my car door." Brick answered simply. If they wanted to push for transparency, he would accommodate. He preferred speaking, blunt rather than double talk or flowery words.

China White, Al Sah Her, and Adler looked ropable as they glared at Brickwell.

"Does Sergei know?" Adler asked.

Mr. Blank gave a small smirk. "As far as Mr. Mishnev knows, The Woman in Black killed him."

As the members left, Al Sar Her remained. "Don't forget your promise to me and Tempest." His voice was distorted by a voice modulator. "The consequences of failing our contract would court the ire of powerful individuals."

* * *

Laurel was in the police department to ask her father about the man who wanted to illegally evict her client and her neighbors from their residence.

That was until she heads one of her father's colleagues mention how it was her turn to silence a suspect before he speaks. She then heard a couple of gunshots a few minutes later.

Later that night, she waited outside the alley and ambushed Lieutenant Kimberly Hill. She deftly grabbed Hill's wrist and forearm and twisted it, forcing the Lieutenant to drop her sidearm. "Don't test me. Now, why did you kill the Russian in interrogation?"

Hill chuckled. "Officially? He tried to escape."

Canary sent her leg around the dirty cop and kicked her. She had hit roughly where Hill's liver is. Just as she was taught. It wasn't a fatal hit, but it would hurt like hell for a long while. "You killed him because he mentioned Danny Brickwell didn't, he? He would have blown the entire syndicate?"

"Why do you care? Huh? You decapitated a Bratva brother!" She replied while gritting her teeth.

Canary swallowed, she didn't have to prove her innocence to someone who had been perverting justice. "I want his Brother. The leader of his organization in Starling. So why did he have Mr Prohaszka? What is the connection?"

"You don't know?" She asked with a chuckle. "You are a stupid dumb bitch!" Canary knocked her unconscious. "I really don't like that word!"

She then heard a phone ring and picked it up.

* * *

Alexi patted Sergei on the shoulder. "Our brothers have discovered that The Canary has a rapport with Brick."

"We were played?" Snarled Sergei. "Brick courts war with Bratva. Have all our brother's equipped! And send out word to the streets that we will pay one million dollars to any man who can direct us to Brick tonight. He wants war? Our brothers will give him what he desires."

"Should we contact, Pakhan?"

"No. They have enough to deal with back home. We are on our own."

Alexi nodded and left to issue orders.

* * *

Laurel made her way back to Troika Restaurant, she watched as a blind Asian man entered the building.

She ran up to the sentries and knocked them out. As she did, the building blew up, the door saving her from the blast. She was sprawled across the cement, dazed, until she saw a man flee. She haphazardly chased him and threw her baton at the back of his head, causing him to fall to the cement.

She stood above him as she heard sirens. She heard one of her father's colleagues yell at her, thinking she is a common thug. A terrorist even. "Get on the ground, and hands on your head!" He barked.

Her hands went up. "I'm not your enemy, officer."

She heard his gun being cocked. "I don't give a damn, who you are. Hands in the air lady."

She nodded. She then swiftly ducked and rolled, as she did so, she dropped one her last pellets. While the officers were distracted, she carried the man to a warehouse.

* * *

Brick and Blank were watching a news feed on the explosions around the Glades. The newscaster dubbing it;  _Starling's Battle Grounds_.

"Well?" Brick asked.

"Officer Daly was about to kill Mishnev when The Woman in Black was interrogating him. She and the Russian disappeared after she used some sort of device. A high-pitched speaker of some kind."

"So, she is more than a girl just jumping in the deep end?" Brick mumbled to himself.

"That seems to be the case, sir. Between her skills and her arsenal…"

* * *

Hill walked through the fiery ruins of the restaurant. She found a Bratva thug impaled on a piece of rebar begging for help.

She shot him in the head. And looked up at her officers. "If you find anyone alive, shoot them in the head."

* * *

Sergei attempted to roll over.

The Woman in Black gently placed her foot on his chest. "Don't move. You've been shot."

The man began to angrily speak to her in Russian.

"That sounds pretty bad. Unfortunately for you, I don't speak asshole."

Sergei spat out some blood. "I will kill you for taking on my brother's head. An eye for an eye, A tooth for a tooth!"

"Lex Talionis, huh." She cocked her head at the wounded man. "Wrong person. I don't kill people. Take your brother who pretended to be a cop. I put him in a coma, not in the morgue. I don't kill people, even when people wouldn't fault me for killing bastards like you and your ilk."

"Lying bitch! I saw your message. Your balaclava!"

"So what? Suddenly I'm the only person in the world who owns a ski mask?" She asked sarcastically. "You're being played by Brickwell. I didn't blow your shit up."

"Brick is the man you work for!" Spat the injured Russian.

"Look, I don't know the intricacies of the webs of deceit, Brick and his lot have weaved. But there comes a time where you must draw a line in the sand. He wants to kill you. I don't. Choose."

"I choose my Brothers! The Bratva."

"Not an option. They are either in hiding or too small to make a difference. The rest has been killed in your gang war."

Sergei spat some blood from his mouth. He knew that his options were very limited and narrowing considerably as they spoke: "Then what is it you want _, Malen'kaya Ptitsa_?"

"Daniel Brickwell on trial and put behind bars."

The Russian laughed and spat out blood. "Beautiful, but no brains."

"Well, the non-existent brain of mine, tells me that you are bleeding out. This brain that you claim is absent brain also knows first aid."

Sergei chuckled and spat out some of the coppery liquid. "If I believe you… What do I get?"

"Justice, Vengeance. Life." Behind bars. She silently added.

He chuckled again and continued to cough up blood. "I have a counter-proposal, suck my dick… Bitc..." His eyes then glassed over. Laurel swore as she searched for his pulse and sighed when she found it. He had only passed out from the bullet wound and the blood loss.

Laurel slapped his faces gently which garnered no response. She then looked around to find something to cauterize his wound.

* * *

Thea and Joanna were watching the explosions from their offices and the Tv, Thea had hooked up earlier. While they were watching, Thea was called by an unknown number.

"Hello?"

"Thea, Thea Queen?" Asked a familiar voice. A voice she had not expected to call her, considering her brother's less than amicable relationship with the detective.

"Yes, Detective Lance."

"Have you seen or heard from Laurel? With all war zone happening in the city, I was hoping she was safe." His voice was on the verge of cracking. She wished that her mother was as proactive in worrying about her only child like he was, minus the overprotectiveness part of course.

Thea bit her lip. "No, I haven't seen her. But I'm sure she is all right. Knowing her, she is probably training at one of her gyms and has her earphones in and training to the music."

One night, Laurel had informed her that she used an old gym to exercise and to escape or retreat from stress or upsetting thoughts, or memories.

A trait she picked up from a friend when she was studying in Central City. Thea supposed that it was a better way to escape the stress than drugs or alcohol.

She heard the man sigh. "Alright. If you see her tell her that I called… And Thea?"

"Yeah?"

"You keep safe too. Laurel sees you as something like a baby sister. Losing you like she lost your brother or Sara, would kill her."

"I will. You stay safe as well, Detective. Goodbye." She then hung up and looked out the window, seeing a fire in the distance. She bit her lip, hoping that Laurel was safe. Now was not the safest time for anyone to outside and alone in Starling.

* * *

Sergei's screams had alerted the cop she had pinned. He looked young and rather wet behind the ears, as her father would say.

"Who do you work for?" She asked.

"Starling City." He replied too quickly. He then quickly amended. "The SCPD."

She jabbed him in the stomach. "I don't like liars. The truth this time, please."

The young cop answered the same. She then gave him the benefit of the doubt and handed him his hand-held radio. "Inform your team leader that it was a false alarm. That you got jumpy and realized the sound was just a cat. A rookie mistake, they won't hold it against you. Apart from some light-hearted teasing."

The frightened cop nodded. "Ok… Ok." He then quickly took the radio and informed the police that she was in the warehouse. She knocked him out and sighed in annoyance.

When she returned to the now conscious Sergei he spoke. "You may think that there is no difference between you, me and Brick. But you will soon realize you have entered a slippery slope. A slope even the noblest of people fall down."

"Tell me what I need to know, Sergei."

"His lackey approached us. His employer, Brickwell had taken an interest in our operations and offered a pact to expand influence and power. Our Pakhan, Gregor. He wanted this. Brick had us work distribution for the Triad's heroin."

Laurel then recalled how the triad had tried to extort Thea. She clenched her fists. Brick's network had attempted to hurt her baby sister!

"The Chinese are involved?" She asked through gritted teeth.

Sergei clutched his rib as he chuckled. "Like I said. Beauty with no brains. Have you heard of Leslie Shumway?"

Laurel nodded. "Worked for Al Capone. He was his money man."

The Bratva leader shook his head. "Perhaps you do have a brain beneath that beauty. His name is Vincent Adler. He will give you the names you think you want. Like it matters."

* * *

After a brief fight, Sergei and Laurel fell through the floors to a basement level. After checking the Russian was alive, she heard the hand-held radio speak.

A British accent could be heard. "Is the Woman in Black there?"

She held the radio. "Daniel Brickwell?"

"I thought it was time you and I spoke. Especially after the lengths, you went to get my attention. You and I are very similar, Ms..."

Laurel ignored the latter part of his statement. "You and I a polar opposite. You are like a parasite leeching off Starling City."

"No, you and I did both want to help this city. Only I do it on a larger scale. A more important one. I will make you a deal, Canary."

He waited for a few moments, as she unconsciously felt her hand feeling the pendant under her jacket. And blinked away the thoughts of how she acquired it.

Her voice broke her from her thoughts. "Yes, I have heard what the Bratva have called you. You are surrounded. Death is inevitable. Kill or give up Mr. Mishnev and we call your actions, a push. A stalemate. I will allow you the prospect to stop me."

She kicked a piece of debris. "No. I don't negotiate with you and your ilk!"

"As you wish." A gunshot was then heard. Her stomach dropped, that couldn't have been a coincidence. "That man's blood is on your hands. Your pride and your mulish rigidity killed that man."

* * *

Thea was watching the television after reassuring both Detective Lance and Walter that she was safe at CNRI. The reporter was discussing a woman dressed in black, who they believe is involved in the war with the Russian gang war.

" _Sources within the gang war have stated that the Russian Mob has dubbed the masked vigilante as 'The Canary'. As to why the terrorist vigilante has been named after the small bird is up for debate…"_

She nudged Joanna. "That is the woman who saved me. The Canary"

"You're lucky that she saved you."

"She didn't seem the person to do the bombings and kill those cops." Her voice seemed to show that she was starting to believe that she was saved by circumstance and not by a hero.

They then heard that a police officer was shot and is a critical condition. The reporter then speculated that the Woman in Black was involved in the shooting of the police officer.

* * *

Laurel left Sergei to hold off the oncoming army of Brick's men. He had asked her to give him and his brother's justice and warned her that she was getting into bed with ferocious animals and may have to retaliate in a similar matter in order to survive.


	8. Declarations

Brick and Al Sah Him were discussing how his war with the Russians and The Woman in Black had destroyed a shipment of technology, his organization needed.

"All I promised you was that the police would be busy. Did you encounter law enforcement?" He didn't wait for the ninja to answer. "No, because I am a man of my word. I pride myself on that. I used the Bratva's little push along with The Woman in black to occupy the SCPD's resources."

"No, instead the shipment was caught in your skirmish with The Woman in Black and the Russians." Al Sah Her sneered before he stormed out.

Mr. Blank approached his employer, glaring over his shoulder as he watched the ninja leave. "If he was the Russians you would never take that kind of insults."

Brick shrugged his shoulders slightly as he looked at the doorway Al Sah Her had left through. "He's not the Bratva nor the Triad. He is something more."

"No, both The Bratva and the Triad actually contributed. What do Al Sah Her's men and resources do?"

"He and his Tempest are a necessary evil." Brick answered ominously. 

* * *

Laurel was sitting on her sofa, reading. Trying to understand if she was doing the right thing. And if she was… how could she cope with the death that she experienced during her night job?

It was then that a knock on the door broke the attorney from her thoughts.

With a sigh, she walked up to the door and opened it. Her father was standing at the door with a bagful of Chinese food.

He looked carefully at her bruised face. The sight made him worry for his eldest and now only daughter. His lifeline. His rock. He walked in and placed the food on her coffee table before broaching the topic.

"Baby…" He walked over and gently checked her jaw and nose for signs of broken bones but saw none. "Who did this to you?" He asked before giving her a gentle peck on the forehead.

She gave him a small smile and sat down. He followed suit. "Self-defence. My instructor believes that pain is the best teacher." It was a terrible lie, but her father seemed to buy it.

He scoffed. "I would get a new coach. Or sensei or whatever."

Laurel rolled her eyes, at her dad's protective streak. "I'm ok Dad. It's just…"

"Just what baby?" He probed.

"How do you cope with the dangers of your job?"

Quintin grabbed her hand. "This about the Russians?" She nodded. "I cope by knowing that I am making this place safer for families. For people who don't deserve to be handed the cards, they are dealt. That's what it's like to be a cop."

She nodded as he continued. "But what always kept me going and still does, is knowing that despite any horrors, I face when I enter my precinct. I know that my family… or what's left of it is safe and healthy and that at the end of the day, justice is being achieved."

Laurel hugged her father. "I miss Sara too." Her family would keep her going just as it does for her dad. He and Thea will keep her from falling to the stress or giving up. They are and will be her strength. 

* * *

Later that night she decided she needed to go after Fisk's Shumway. She found him exiting an expensive restaurant.

It was one that Ollie loved. A fine Italian restaurant, where everyone must be dressed finely.

She shook her head as she lowered her balaclava, concealing her face. Ollie was dead, and she had a mission to do. Save Starling from crumbling and turning belly up for Brickwell.

As Adler adjusted his coat, he entered his car, only to hear someone enter the rear of the car. He felt something wrap around his neck.

He looked back in the rear-view mirror. And saw the person who had been making his life and the lives of his accomplice's hell, The Woman in Black, or The Canary, whatever her name was she had chosen him now as her victim.

"You don't have to do this!" He sobbed. "Being bombed is a nasty way to go." Adler pleaded.

Laurel smiled beneath her mask. "Then don't give me a not reason to." Little did he know the leather strap around his throat was just a simple black dog collar, that she had found on the ground a few blocks away.

She remembered a proverb Ted had told her once.  _One Mind, Any Weapon._ She doubted tricking a man with a dog collar was what the inventor of the motto had in mind. But it worked.

"What do you want?" He asked. "My wallet? Car?" He asked frantically.

She pulled the collar around his neck, forcing him to remain seated. "You know what I want. Give me everything you have on your employer."

"I work for Silver and Brent. I'm an accountant."

While she was putting all of her attention on Adler, she failed to notice a security guard sneak up to the car.

The guard swiftly and fluidly opened the door and dragged her out, as she landed on the hard asphalt, Adler sped away.

She kicked the guard in the face, before fleeing into the night. She didn't want to hurt a man too much. He thought he was being the good Samaritan.

God knows that Starling could use more of them. 

* * *

Liza Warner had just had a discussion about loyalty with Danny Brickwell and the cost of said loyalty. She would be paid that large lump sum after she killed her friend since they were in diapers.

She walked past the hospital staff and eventually walked up to her friend's door. Outside of her door stood Quintin Lance and Lucas Hilton. As she walked up to the door Lance stood in front of her.

"Hey, Warner. I'm sorry, but… you have to sign the paper."

Hilton nodded. "Just procedure. With everything between the Russians and The Woman in Black. We just need to know who's enters and leaves the room."

Warner gave a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Sure." She said before swallowing some fear. "Since when did the Captain send out detectives to do guard duty?"

Both men chuckled, as Hilton answered. "Since we've been low on manpower after The Russians started lighting up the Glades"

She scribbled her name on the sheet as Quintin pointed at the flowers. "I'm sure that Hill would appreciate the flowers."

"Yeah, it's her favorite. I thought that the smell of something nice would arouse her or something."

Hilton then asked to check the small bouquet, likely checking it for weapons or drugs." All precautions she reminded herself.

They then granted her access. She then apologized to her friend before putting a lethal dose of a drug into the woman's IV.

It was then that The Woman in Black grabbed Warner in a choke hold, causing her to pass out. Laurel then ran over to the now dying Hill.

"Your partner just gave you a lethal dose of a drug. You won't survive, but you can ensure that she and the man she is working for will face justice." The dying cop nodded slightly. "Daniel Brickwell. Tell me everything you know about him."

Before she could answer, she started to go into cardiac arrest as she heard her father and his partner yelling and barging the door she had blocked. She jumped back out the window to escape the police. 

* * *

Thea walked out of the mansion and followed the pathway that she hadn't visited for too long. She had unconsciously stopped her frequent visits since Laurel had returned home. Eventually, the cement path merged with a maintained gravel path that leads to her brother and father's empty graves.

Thea's breath hitched as she saw her brother's headstone. She exhaled and walked to the space between the two headstones. She traced her hands over her dad's and mumbled a small greeting. "Hi, Dad. Sorry to interrupt you two, I'm sure that your discussing sports, or us, but I need to talk to Ollie in private."

She then turned to Ollie's grave. "Hey, Ollie. It's been a wild ride for the past while. Laurel returned from Law school in Central City."

She exhaled as she looked up at the twinkling stars above. "She's changed, but she's still Laurel, you know? The big sister I never had." She gave a small chuckle before she sobered. "She's changed, though, Ollie. Not at her core, because she still has that protective streak that she got from her father. But… She seems to enjoy fitness and boxing more." She gulped as she returned her gaze on the marble headstone. "But Ollie, I think you changed her when you took Sara on The Gambit. I don't think it's a positive one—" She felt her eyes sting from her tears.

"She has been getting into fights. I mean it must be no holds barred fights. She always has nasty purple bruises or stitches. Laurel—She is always limping as well. I'm worried about her. I just hope that she's not doing it just to feel something. To feel anything after what happened with the Gambit." Like she did with drugs and alcohol. Thea exhaled and kissed her brother's headstone. "But, I will look out for her, we are family. She's our family, Ollie. Yours and mine."

* * *

Laurel found Caitlin in her apartment. "Hey."

Caitlin smiled, noticing that her friend and savior hadn't run into too much trouble that warranted sutures. "A friend of mine. He's more like a brother actually. He has the ability to create many things…"

Laurel nodded as she went to her freezer and pulled out an ice pack and held it against her tender ribs. "Uh, huh."

"Well, I asked him to come to Starling to outfit you with a more protective suit. The only way you can protect the people is to protect yourself."

She nodded. "When will he arrive?"

"Soon."

* * *

Laurel sat in her apartment eating with Thea, as the news came on.

" _Reports have come in that; A Mister Daniel Brickwell has recently arrived in Starling City following the gang war. He had this to say:"_

In the background Laurel noticed Adler standing behind him.

Thea while eating her dinner, noticed her sister's body became rigid and stopped eating. Her eyes then were glued to the screen, her lips pursed. She wanted to ask about what was bothering her about this Brickwell guy but opted to wait until after the broadcast.

Brick adjusted his tie as he walked up the podium.

" _People in this beautiful city that, my mother grew up in. The city that I now call my home. Has been under siege by a mad masked vigilante. A person who has no regard for the people she injures. The Canary of Starling City. This terrorist will only respond to one thing. We must show her the tenacity that makes our people great. Show her that we will not fall to our knees to revere or accept her reign of tyranny and fear."_

Brickwell then gently dragged Adler next to him _. "My dear friend, Vincent Adler. A prominent figure in our city, he likes to operate behind the limelight. Was assaulted by The Canary. For no other reason than to send me a message. She resents the fact that I was trying to save the city from killing itself. I will follow my friends resolve, I stand with him in solidarity to show that we cannot be coerced. Will you join me, Starling?"_

Laurel put her food on the coffee table. Thea followed suit and finally spoke, breaking the tension-filled silence. "You know, Joanna had started searching more on the recent events and the main players involved in the gang war."

Laurel exhaled. "What has she found?"

"She has tried to get third parties to get close to Vincent Adler and Mr. Blank. She hired a PI, the investigator told her that since The Canary had ruffed up Adler, both of them and those close to Brickwell have been protected by armed guards that won't allow anyone close to them."

* * *

Brick sat in the dimly lit construction site. "Blank, have you found Miss Warner?"

"No, but if she is in the city. We will find her it is but a matter of time." Assured Blank.

Brick nodded. As the door was kicked open. Al Sah Her strode in angrily, delivering a strike to the guard's throat who attempted to stop him from proceeding further.

The man fell to his knees, gasping. Al Sah Her slammed down a map of the city. "Are you truly a man of your word? I was given an oath. Three city blocks. You cannot even manage one."

"You will have to be patient, or choose another three blocks." Brick answered carefully, yet not showing any weakness to his belligerent co-conspirator.

"I am bound by my employer, to have these blocks for their endeavors. It is non-negotiable." The Dark Archer responded curtly.

"Blank?"

"Since you are now a public figure such expenses can prove to be challenging."

The ninja nodded. "My organization can compensate for all the financials. Money is not an issue."

"I appreciate the offer. I would prefer a Quid-Quo-Pro arrangement. You and I have a hindrance that has affected us."

"The Woman in Black?"

"She seems remarkably determined. That determination, her skill, and talents have made her a resilient, reoccurring foe. Perhaps someone from your organization, Tempest or otherwise can send someone with a similar stance to put an end to her hindrance."

"Even if an elite member of either organization was to accept. Finding her will prove to be difficult and time-consuming."

"She is human. Her emotions will cloud her mind and that will make her reckless." Brick then briefed his contemporary on what they had on the Canary of Starling City.


	9. The Ninja-Archer

After a long day of finding out that Brick had escaped their grasp once again in the Tenement case with Tully.

Tommy arrived to pick up Thea. As he walked into the office, he saw Laurel talking to a woman, he presumed was her partner and Thea. He cleared his throat as he entered. "Dinah Laurel Lance. Always trying to save the world."

She turned her head and smiled. She walked up to him and gave him a hug. "Tommy."

"Hey. I missed you the last few times I came here." He whispered as he returned the embrace.

"Been busy."

"I can see." He gave her a toothy grin. "Would you like to go somewhere and catch up?"

Laurel's smile dropped slightly. "A date or two friends hanging out?"

"Whichever you would prefer," Tommy added.

Tommy had taken Laurel to a small diner, as friends, as per her request. As they sat down and ordered their dinner, Tommy looked over the woman he used to know. She seemed to collect bruises more easily than she used to.

Thea had mentioned off handily that she was worried about her. Tommy was wondering if Thea remembered her 'big sister' Laurel never averse to physical confrontations. It was ingrained in her blood. Perhaps she had collected her bruises stopping a would-be thief that tried to steal her purse.

"You ok Laurel?"

She nodded amicably. "Why wouldn't I?"

The billionaire playboy shrugged nonchalantly. "Ever since you came back from Central City. You have been either incredibly determined with CNRI, or you have been aloof."

"I'm just determined. Following the Gambit, and my time away, I rediscovered who I am." She answered what she thought he was thinking.

Tommy gave her a smirk, that effectively meant that he knew she was full of it. "Sure. Dinah Laurel Lance, always trying to save the world. She recently picked up a stray, by the name of; Thea Queen. So, I really don't see how you've changed that much, apart from your extreme determination."

The waitress came and delivered their food. Laurel took a bite from her burger. "Events change people Tommy. It's not something that can be chosen or disregarded."

"What about Ollie? You still hate his guts?" Tommy asked.

"He's gone and there is no point dwelling on my feelings on a person that has been dead for years." She said through clenched teeth.

Tommy chuckled but didn't push anymore. It was clear to him that despite how she may feel, she continued to wear the necklace and pendant that Oliver had bought for her for their anniversary, almost half a year before The Gambit sunk.

* * *

Upon returning the next morning, Laurel received a text from her father, informing her that her client, Mrs. Cardenas was murdered. And since, she had no known next of kin, as her Lawyers, she and Joanna should go to identify the body.

Laurel, Joanna entered the morgue to see the body of their client. Only her head was visible, the rest was hidden beneath the white blanket.

Joanna put her hand to her mouth in shock. "That's her."

Lance nodded. "I appreciate you two coming down here."

Laurel remained static, as she had her eyes glued on the face of her client. The woman she had failed to protect. "What happened to her?"

Her father looked down at his shoes before looking at his daughter. "Multiple stab wounds and lacerations to the torso, but the arrow delivered post mortem into her chest."

The medical examiner looked at the two lawyers. "Mrs. Cardenas had no next of kin. What would she have wished for her remains?"

Laurel looked up. "We will make arrangements. It's the least she deserves."

Quintin felt a surge of pride fill him as he heard his daughter. Knowing that she was giving up their money to give old lady respect, even after she had given up to the ghost.

"Thank you, baby. I'm sure she would appreciate that."

* * *

Laurel stormed into her ratty old gym and listened to the radio as she sparred against the boxing bag. After she started to feel the burn in her muscles, she heard the radio presenter speak.

" _Mr. Daniel Brickwell has just made a statement regarding the murder of one of his newly acquired tenants. He had this to say:"_

" _I never had the pleasure to meet Mrs. Cardenas. I only wish that she and her other tenants accepted my generous offer to escape the conditions of the building that I recently acquired. She was killed by the cancer that this city has to face on a daily basis. Crime, Maniacs in masks. I will in honor of her memory, vow to keep assisting Starling City to be a better place."_

After he finished talking Laurel started to hit the bag harder and faster, releasing her pent-up rage and frustration.

After five minutes she went home. She had to get justice for her client.

* * *

She found a back-alley drug dealer. She snuck up on him, kicked the back of his knees and held her baton around his neck. She dropped a single sachet of the heroin that she found Thea with a few months ago.

"See that sachet. Where is the man that gave you it?"

"Ok, I will tell you please stop hurting me!" He begged the vigilante.

After she received the information, she knocked him out and cable tied him to the lamppost and called the police.

* * *

Later that night, The Canary walked into a drug den. The location the drug dealer had given her.

She crinkled her nose at the smell of the various chemicals and the not so subtle smell of ammonia and acetone.

She eventually found the man sitting on a sofa, high as a kite. He seemed to be enamored with the sight of her medallion.

"Pretty." He said with a chuckle. As he reached out to the pendant that was just out of his reach.

She ignored him and searched his jacket pockets, before spotting her clients, handbag. She walked over to him and slapped his face hard.

"You're real. Like really real!" He said while cupping his now tender jaw.

"Where did you get that handbag?" The man kept stumbling over his words. "Who do you work for? Was it Brickwell?"

"I don't know who that is. Please stop." The man begged as he feebly protected his face with his hands.

She then heaved the man and threw him against the wall. He groaned. "Was it Brickwell? Daniel Brickwell? Brick?"

"I don't know." She crinkled her nose at the rotting smell from his mouth. "I was approached and taken to pier 81, a warehouse is there. "

He then began a measly monologue, about how he was taken advantage of and that he only did it to get his fix.

"I want you to listen to me very closely." She said in an authoritative tone. "If you don't want me to beat the crap out of you. You will turn yourself into Detective Quintin Lance. Trust no one else."

After she left, she wondered if she should have also recommended Hilton or Pike. It would have certainly distanced herself from her father. Fewer connections for the police to find her. And less risk of her father's life going to hell. She mentally noted that she should add them to her list to protect her father and her secret.

* * *

The Canary walked up to the warehouse, the drug addict had told her about. She carefully opened the door and entered.

Canary walked down the hallways of the building before entering the main room. She then followed the shadows of the building, ensuring that she wouldn't be caught unawares. She learned the hard way with the Russians about letting her rashness getting the better of her.

Inside, she found a carpenter's bench with a layout of Starling. With black squares around certain areas. As she studied the map, she realized the two squares were localized around The Glades.

"What is Brick up to?" She asked herself in a whisper.

As she continued to study the map, she heard footsteps slightly echo throughout the large, abandoned warehouse.

She turned and unclipped her baton.

A man wearing a black hood and wielding a bow stood out from the shadows. His silhouette, slightly illuminated by the lights outside. "I appreciate you arriving here with such diligence." His voice was disguised by a deep voice modulator.

The Canary kept her eye on the archer and quickly swiveled around to ensure it was only them. "I didn't come for you."

"And yet, you are a bird ensnared in my net." The ominous voice replied.

"You Brick's enforcer?" Canary asked as the two began to encircle each other. "You and your boss paid that junky to…" She swallowed the bile and forced her arms and legs to stop from shaking from the adrenaline. "Kill Mrs. Cardenas?" She sighed. "An innocent woman was robbed of her life, and for what? Just to lead me here?"

The Dark Archer chuckled. "I would argue that the trap worked. Here you are."

"I swept the warehouse. You were not here a few minutes ago."

"I was. You are but naïve a child. A starry-eyed girl entering a world she has no right to be in. There are many things in this world that are considered unnatural. And, I was trained by the best of the best."

The archer followed through and began to fire arrows at the vigilante. She managed to narrowly deflect the first two arrows.

She ran up to him and delivered a couple of hard hits with her baton. He barely flinched as he grabbed her baton and pushed kicked her away. Relieving her of her weapon.

He then threw her nightstick behind him and proceed to shoot her with an arrow.

The Canary cried as she felt the searing pain of the arrow piercing her shoulder. Another arrow followed quickly after the first and sliced open her jacket just under her ribs on the right-hand side. She felt the sharp sting as it sliced open her skin. The archer had likely been intended to pierce her liver, but she moved faster than he had anticipated.

The Canary cried out in pain. As she fell to the ground, he kicked her in the ribs. He then pulled out another arrow from his quiver. "You have been a nuisance to my organization. The head of Tempest wants you dead!"

She clutched her bleeding side, as she thought of her family. What her father had said:

" _I know that my family… or what's left of it is safe and healthy."_

Thea and her father. This ninja would kill them if she lost, she realized. If she died, everyone, she knew would be in danger.

As she watched in horror, as the ninja-archer nocked his bow and released the missile towards her chest.

A sonic blast escaped her lips deflecting the arrow that was destined to end her life. The shards of the arrow hit the light bulb above the dark archer causing sparks, which ignited the oil on the ground beneath the archer. He flailed around as the fire immolated the enforcer. He shrieked in pain, before collapsing to the ground.

The Canary panted and groaned as she awkwardly made her way to her feet. She clutched both of her wounds and was proceeding to leave the damn warehouse when she heard clapping.

"That was a spectacular show. And I especially appreciate you ridding me of the belligerent, Al Sah Her." Brick said with a triumphant grin, as he walked in flanked by Mr. Blank and his armed escort. "Although you certainly are full of surprises."

"I… You wanted me to kill him?" She asked as she fought off exhaustion and light headiness from blood loss.

"I don't like hitting women. It's not very gentlemanly." Brick answered.

"So, you have so one else do the dirty work?" She mocked him. "You had Mrs. Cardenas killed just to get me here." She asked feeling woozy.

"You're much too noble. A great boon in the day time, I'm sure. Out here in the darkness, it's your Achilles Heel. Your weakness for children and women. It's not a stretch of the imagination to assume that this weakness of protecting the vulnerable extends to the elderly, the lame or the sick."

"So, you killed that innocent lady. Just to get my attention?" She asked as she clutched her wound tighter.

"Al Sah Her, forced the issue until I had no choice." He pointed out as he directed his hands to the burnt remains of his enforcer.

"So, for all the claims that you're the savior of Starling, and yet you kill and hurt those that make the city beautiful?"

"An unfortunate victim in the push to help Starling. I took no pleasure ordering her to be killed. As I said before, I don't like hurting women."

She was so pissed off. She really wanted to kill him. Rid the world of him, rid her city of his filth. It was then that she heard her father's voice in her head.

" _We don't need to outside the law to find justice."_

She bit her lip. Even though she was outside of the law with vigilantism, it didn't mean that she could break the most important laws. She still had her morality and ethics that her father had instilled in her.

As much as she wished to kill him. She could never forgive herself if she did.

"I'm taking you into the police. You will face justice for your crimes."

"As you wish, I'll even grant you the first hit." He goaded her as he raised his hands in the air.

She ran up to him and delivered several blows. Only for Brick to grab a fistful of her jacket's collar and punched repeatedly. After several strikes, he grabbed the arrow still impaled in her shoulder and ripped it out and threw it on the ground, causing her to shriek out in pain.

He then delivered another blow sending her to the ground hard. "Said, I don't like hitting women. Never said I wouldn't."

She spat out the blood in her mouth. Feeling every inch of her body feel like it was on fire. He walked over her in a domineering fashion, preparing to bash her head into the concrete.

She grabbed the arrow and slashed at his side, only to break the outer layer of his jacket. He had some sort of protective weave in his clothes.

He looked down at his fine jacket in anger. He then picked her up by her collar with ease and threw her onto the carpenter's bench, causing it to break in two.

Brick then shook his head at the woman that had caused his life unnecessary hardships in disappointment. "I'm disappointed in you darlin. You have been made out to be the big bad wolf when you are just a little fragile bird.

She rolled over in pain. As Brick cleaned off his hands. He looked over to his posse. "Your turn, boys. After you had your fun, kill everyone she loves."

Blank cocked his gun as he walked over to her.

The Wounded Canary, patted down her pockets to find two of her pellets left. As she patted down her pockets, she was pleading that either that sonic blast would emit from her mouth or that she would find one of those damn pellets.

She grabbed one and threw it in the direction of the thugs, and sighed in relief that she didn't have to rely on the sonic cry that came from her mouth. She had no idea about, no idea how to use it.

The sonic device erupted its high-pitched frequency and blew out the windows and the lights. While her would be killers clutched their ears, she haphazardly sprinted over to the window and dived out into the harbor below.


	10. Canary's Origins

Thea was knocking relentless against her older sister's door. "Laurel. Laurel, please open up. I know that Mrs. Cardenas's death hurt you a lot. I want to help you like you helped me. It is what a family does." She knocked again, harder. "Laurel!" she yelled into the door.

She then heard a crash in Laurel's apartment. Thea ran outside the building and ran up the fire escape and climbed through the window. She pulled out a can of mace from her purse.

"Laurel?" She asked into the darkness. "It's me, Thea. I heard a crash, I just wanna make sure you didn't hurt yourself."

As she looked around the living room, she saw the coffee table upturned and a black silhouette laying lifelessly on the ground. She then knelt down carefully near the body. She kept her mace aimed at the person's eyes. As she carefully removed the mask.

She gasped in surprise. "Laurel?"

* * *

After struggling with Laurel, to get her to lay on the sofa, she begrudgingly called a doctor friend of Laurel's. Caitlin Snow. This woman patched up her sister without asking for money and didn't seem surprised in the slightest that Laurel was bruised and cut up.

A few hours following Caitlin's departure, Laurel woke up. She felt her shoulders and then her side. She then seemed to notice her sister sitting on a one-seater sofa watching her with an anxious look.

Thea gently knelt beside her surrogate sister. "You're alright Laurel. You had me call, Dr. Snow. She patched you up."

Laurel nodded, then sighed. "Did she tell you anything?" She asked carefully in a hoarse voice.

Thea shook her head. "Not much beyond when I offered to pay her for the time and inconvenience, she said that she owed you. She then mumbled something about warning you about not wearing body armor, about expediting something, regardless of what you want."

Laurel smiled slightly. "Yeah. She warned me. I was too impulsive and didn't heed her advice. That's me, impulsive Laurel."

Thea nodded sullenly. "Your Dad always said that you jumped to head in head first." She then pointed at Laurel's wounds. "You saved me that night. That's why you had a swollen nose. All those other times you had bruises and cuts…"

"Yeah, Speedy. I stopped him from hurting you, from hurting people that don't deserve to be ruffed up." She admitted, with a tear sliding down her grazed cheek.

"Then you go and blow up the buildings? Shoot that cop?" While the young woman couldn't believe that her surrogate sister was capable of murder, but it was apparent that the last four years had changed Laurel.

"I didn't do any of that. It was Brick and his cabal." The wounded blonde answered. "Please, Speedy. You have to believe that I would never do that. I couldn't."

Thea nodded, she could tell that her sister wasn't lying. "How did you start to do all of this?"

"That's a long story, Speedy."

"We have time." Thea pushed. She had promised Ollie that she would look after their family. She could only help Laurel if she knew the whole story.

Laurel nodded. Knowing that she had to explain her actions. "A month or so following the Gambit. You remember when I left for Central City?" Thea nodded. "Well, I… I eventually met a guy that helped me with my grief and anger. He trained me to box and other martial arts like; Krav Maga, Kickboxing, the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program and a few other things."

* * *

_ Flashback _

She was in the ring with Ted. A man that was in his early fifties with silver-grey hair that was cut in a military fashion had taken her under his wing.

As they were preparing to spar for the first time after he saved her from going in over her head in her crusade to stop street crime.

Laurel puts in her mouth guard. "Did the Marine Corps, teach you boxing?"

"Nope." He said simply as they started to circle each other. He then flipped her over his shoulder and his left fist inches from her face. "They teach fighting." He then helped her up. "And that's what I'm gonna teach you."

"Nice trick." She grunted as she stood up.

"Not a trick, Dinah. Discipline." He then walked over to his office and handed her a small box. "Have a look."

She gently took the box and opened the lid, seeing the look on her friend's face, she knew it was something he held sacred. She looked at several war medals and a picture of a younger Ted with a woman and a child. The young boy couldn't have been older than ten, and a girl that couldn't have been older than two.

"That was my wife and kids. Killed by a Mexican drug cartel leader. After I left the service, I used my training as a sniper in the Marine Corps to become a vigilante and arrest the son of a bitch. That's what I'm gonna teach you. Stealth, reconnaissance, interrogation and fighting." He then cast his Icey blue eyes on her. "I won't lie to you, Dinah. It will be the most grueling few years of your life, especially if you continue to study for your fancy law degree."

"I'll do it. Train with you and study the law." She then gave him a small playful glare. "And it's Laurel. Dinah's my mother."

He gave an approving grin. "Well, alright." He chucked her a couple of black gym clothes with his gym logo sewn into the fabric. "If you're fighting here, Dinah. You wear those." He pointed at the gym clothes in her arms. "None of those fancy yoga crap, it's a boxing gym, not a damn yoga studio."

* * *

_Present Day._

"That's a leap, Laurel. From self-defense and sport to this." She pointed at the mask and Laurel's clothes.

"After I settled in before I met Ted. One of my neighbor's he would abuse his pregnant wife, every night after drinking with his buddies at the bar. Then after she was asleep, he would sexually abuse their daughter. "I called the police. She was too scared to report him. And he never left a mark on his daughter, he was meticulous about it. The police couldn't do anything. But I could."

"That's how it started?"

"Yeah, I followed him after he left the bar. I then gave him the justice he deserved and told him that if he didn't hand himself in and admit his crimes. I would make repeat visits. It took a broken arm, collarbone and several teeth before he got the hint. He is still serving time in prison. His now ex-wife and children live on the other side of the country and changed their names."

"How did you meet this Ted guy?" Thea asked.

This guy had such a profound impact on her sister. A man that had changed her from the woman who would only use violence as a last resort. This Ted guy had caused Laurel to change from the studious girl she had looked up to, and the girl Ollie had loved to someone else, to something else.

* * *

_ Flashback _

Laurel was running down the dark alley with only a baseball bat chasing would be a mugger. As she chased the man down the alley, she found the man. He turned from the blocked passageway and charged at her.

He easily lifted her in the air and dropped her on the asphalt below. He then grabbed her bat and was about to hit her, as she could only watch in fear.

Then all of a sudden, A man dressed in black, and wore a leather reinforced balaclava and brass knuckles disarmed the attacker.

"Big man. Must feel make you feel big hitting girls." The Man in Black asked mockingly, his voice slightly muffled from the mask. "Care to test your mettle against me instead?"

The man turned to look at the Man in Black. "Shit! Wildcat! He's real." He dropped the bat and started running.

Wildcat sighed, as he picked up the Ashwood bat and threw it with accuracy directly behind the fleeing man's knees. He fell down and hit his head on the bitumen and knocked himself out.

The vigilante then helped up Laurel. "The bastard's gone. He then helped her up. You've got courage, kid. I'll give you that."

She looked at him with frightened eyes. Wildcat leaned against the fence that was blocking the alley, allowing her the option to flee in the direction she had entered, if she so desired. "I'm not gonna hurt you. I've been watching and keeping an eye on you for a while."

Wildcat then pulled off his knuckle busters and pocketed them, as he continued. "Making waves down here in the muck is a good way to get an early grave. If you're going to do this, you have to have the skills, not just the tenacity and moxie. Three days from now, after you finish work or school. Wildcat's gym."

* * *

_Present Day._

Brick was walking with China White along the shores of Orchid Bay. China White turned to look at her associate. "My organization will soon have to leave yours. The Triads will not go down on your sinking ship. Right your ship and we may stay."

* * *

Thea grabbed Laurel's phone as it was ringing and answered it. "Detective Lance."

"Hey, Thea. Is Laurel there?"

"Yeah, she's asleep though. A hard night." Thea lied to cover for her sister. Well, stretching the truth… God, she has adopted lawyer speak.

"If anyone needs a night of drinking, she does. Listen, tell her that a junky had Mr's Elena Cardenas's possessions was found dead. Had a suicide note and everything.

"Thanks. I will tell her."

Thea then looked at Laurel with a frown. "Did you kill the junkie that killed Mrs. Cardenas?"

"I told him to turn himself into my Dad. I don't kill people, Speedy. Rough them up, sure, but not killing."

Thea nodded. "I know, I just had to be sure." She then handed her sister some aspirin. "How did you get almost killed?"

Laurel swallowed the medication and groaned, as she put on her Wild Cat hoodie. "I located where I thought Daniel Brickwell was. I was going to bring him in for his crimes, especially after Elena. Only His Ninja-Archer enforcer was there.

He tried to kill me. Then this high pitch scream came out of my mouth and dissolved the arrow into shrapnel… It killed the Archer. Then Brick was there, I was too badly hurt to do anything to him beyond a few hits. I had to flee."

* * *

_ Flashback _

Ted sat on one of the old white plastic chairs watching his newest student train against the practice dummy.

"Release your shoulders. You're not a drunk rhino, Dinah. Your grace and flexibility are your allies." He then took a sip of his coffee. "And there is no shame in fleeing from a fight. Less mature individuals will mock you. Ignore it. It's better for you to be alive than dead."

Laurel nodded and adjusted her stance and posture. "Escape to fight another day?" She could feel the burn in her muscles with each hit of the dummy.

"Exactly." He smirked before taking a sip of his beverage. "What brought you to take on things that go bump in the night? The criminals who prey on those who don't deserve it?" Grant asked as he evaluated her strikes and posture.

"I needed to vent my anger and frustration. Seems as good as place as any, and it helps people in the process."

Ted gave a small grunt in acknowledgment. "Fair enough. Who or what are your demons, Dinah?"

"It's Laurel." She corrected. "And it's not demons, but ghosts that haunt me. My boyfriend, a few months ago, he cheated on me with my sister. They died together, a shipwreck. I feel like I'm struggling to stay afloat."

The former Marine stood and embraced the younger woman. "Treading water?" He hummed. "When we do this, you're not beating the crap out of your Casanova or your sister. Nor a substitute for them. You're helping others and helping yourself. I'm here to ensure that you help yourself, ensure that you have a strong foundation to allow you the chance to rebuild yourself, to be stronger."

* * *

_Present Day._

Joanna had found a lead and found Brickwell's young son. A Samuel Brickwell. He was only ten and was hidden from the papers and legal paperwork. There was no record of those boys, beyond Daniel Brickwell's deceased fiancée having a baby. And yet this child had no record following its birth. No death certificate, or any other vaccination records, etc.

She walked into the school and requested a talk with the boy. She asked about questions getting the young boy to reveal that he watched his father kill her."

Laurel covered her face with her hoodie and followed Caitlin to her friend's brother's apartment. There stood a young Hispanic man with shoulder-length hair.

His mouth dropped when he saw the woman who had saved so many lives in the past few months. He was even more excited when Caitlin had told him that she has been working with Starling's Canary and she needed his expertise.

Laurel kept her head down, avoiding him seeing her face. As much as she hated the hiding of her identity, the fewer people that know the better. "I hear that you have something for me, Cisco?"

Cisco almost jumped for joy. "I… yeah. I used the measurements that Caitlin gave me, and made you a suit."

He then handed her a small box. "This is an improved version of the suit you already wear. Only, I added a Kevlar weave around the jacket and the pants. Generally speaking, any vital area offers the most protection, and the rest should be able to deflect a knife. Depending on the angle. Oh, I also made you a mask." He pulled out a domino mask. "It's made out of a compressed micro-fabric. Looks a ton better than a ski mask. And bonus, it makes you look less like a terrorist and more heroic!"

Laurel looked over the gear and smiled. "I appreciate it, Cisco."

"Not finished yet." He then handed her a blonde wig. "Ultra-light material should also stop slashes to the head and help conceal your identity.

"And what does this cost me?" She asked with a small smile.

Cisco grinned. "I only ask for one thing in return for this. Well, two."

Laurel smirked again. "And that is?"

"A photograph of you in your vigilante gear and the other is; why the name, Canary?"

Laurel took the gear and left for the bathroom to change. Caitlin shook her head at her friend. "A photograph? Really?"

"What? I just want to have a souvenir and how often do you meet your heroine?"

Laurel returned with the suit on. Cisco then handed her a new baton. "Made out of a titanium alloy. Stronger and lighter than the bat you used before."

"Thanks." The two then stood together, looking at Caitlin, who held Cisco's phone to take a picture. Caitlin had to refrain from laughing at the goofy smile, her friend was wearing on his face.

After the shot was taken Laurel went back to change and returned. She pulled out the medallion from her jacket. "That's why they call me the Canary. The medallion." Laurel then handed him her final pellet. "How good are you at technology?"

"One of the best." He said as he puffed his chest.

"Good, I was wondering if you could modify this so that I don't have to worry about resupplying them."

Cisco gave a quick glance at the pellet. "Yeah, I have a few ideas on how to modify this."

* * *

Quintin was looking over the reports covering the vigilante known as The Woman in Black and more recently, The Canary of Starling City. Something didn't add up. Why would the vigilante who saved the five or so girls from sexual slavery, save Thea Queen, a little boy and then proceed to kill cops and cause mass explosions around the Glades?

This vigilante also had contacts within the Force, or at the very least has stolen a police radio and monitors their movements.

Hilton walked up to his partner. "Quintin, Vincent Adler was found in an abandoned warehouse. He was found near a deceased man who was identified by one of the rookies to be Brickwell's, right-hand man."

"That's not the M.O. Of; Starling's Canary, is it Hilton?"

"No. That's not her usual way to dispatch her foes. If we go off your gut, she doesn't kill. She follows the law but bends it in other areas. She saves people rather than play executioner."

"What did forensics say in their preliminary findings?"

"That there was a firefight between the two men. Adler seemed to get the kill shot and was then killed by a third party and thrown down an old elevator shaft.

Quintin then looked back over the paperwork about the vigilante.

According to a fellow detective in Central City, there were urban legends of a Woman in Black beating the crap out of criminals, especially ones that targeted women and children. Only the supposed sightings have gone silent in the last few months. She had been protecting the streets for almost four years.

The woman that Detective West had talked about seemed to work with another vigilante.  _Wildcat._ He wondered if his Canary and West's Wildcat were partners or had a mentor and mentee relationship. She certainly emulated his outfit.

* * *

Brick received a phone call from his son's guardian. "Yes?"

"Sammy, he told me, a nice lady named Joanna visited him at school."


	11. Love, Loss and Regrets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The penultimate chapter is here! I apologise for the 2ish week hiatus.

Joanna was about to sift through the remainder of her notes when she noticed a large figure sitting in the shadows. "There used to be rules, back in the day." An Englishman said. "Target the man, not the family. Spouses and childrearing were off limits. I still uphold that code."

Joanna struggled to keep her composure. "That's why you're here? Because of Samuel?"

"Good." Brick said with a small grin. "Now does anyone else know?"

She had left Laurel a memo about the boy. Redundancies in case one of them were unable to go to court or couldn't be reached. "No." She answered calmly.

"Good." He then pulled out his pistol and shot her in the head.

* * *

Thea was sorting through the documents for Laurel and Joanna when Tommy walked in the door to pick her up, it was then that he noticed that it was one of the firms that Merlyn Global Group owned.

"Why is Laurel looking into Arthur King and Partners? Dad owns that firm." Tommy asked as he scanned the document over her shoulder.

Thea looked up. "Um… you're not supposed to look at the legal documents."

Tommy smiled. "Speedy. What are you and Laurel up to?"

Thea answered him, knowing that he would be like a dog with a bone. "Daniel Brickwell, it's related to Elena Cardenas."

"The woman that was murdered? Jesus." He then took the paperwork and started reading it. After about ten minutes he looked up. "Where did CNRI get all this?"

"Between the tenement case and…." She drawled off. As much as she liked Tommy, she didn't want to risk him in his drunken stupor to brag about knowing, The Canary.

"And the other is?" Tommy pressed.

"Starling City's Canary," Thea mumbled as she tried to cover up the evidence Laurel had acquired, during her  _graveyard shift._

"What!?" Tommy almost yelled. "Laurel and you are working with that bitch who was blowing up The Glades!?"

"Did you even read that?" she asked pointing at the papers. "Daniel Brickwell bombed Starling, not her." She replied defensively.

Laurel may have changed but she was still the girl who saw the best in people. A person who would give people the benefit of the doubt. Thea, herself was a prime example of Laurel's nature, she was given a second chance.

Tommy raised his hands in surrender. "Even if we say that is true, these are dangerous people Thea. The Woman in Black included. I might not have been able to protect Ollie from The Gambit, but I can sure as hell look out for you. Stay away from them. They are dangerous people."

"You know, if this comes to light your dad and his entire wealth might go down the drain. Can you help us to help you and your dad get out of the inevitable limelight that will rain down upon that firm for the shady shit they have been doing?"

* * *

The Canary was tailing one of the drug runners for the Triad and found their base of operations. She took out the sentries before sneaking into the base.

She walked in to see blinded men and women with chains around their waists making heroin.

She then heard someone from the balcony above. "Get  _Sui Jerk Kai_!" China White commanded the blind men and women as the chains were released by some sort of mechanism.

The blind men and women acting like a horde surrounded her. She eventually escaped the horde and hid in the shadows.

She watched as a few moments later after the blinded people left their little human heroin factory. She stuck up on China white's guards and took them out. Unfortunately, a stray bullet hit a barrel filled with a flammable liquid and the inferno started to spread to the wooden crates adjacent to the barrel.

"You blinded those people. "

"They blinded themselves. This is merely a business endeavor that has come to an end. There is no reliable source of income for heroin on this scale with the gang wars and yourself."

"Good, so before you turn yourself into the SCPD, tell me where Brickwell is."

"I will not." She then threw a ninja star. The vigilante dodged it only to find China White had disappeared. Laurel sighed as she dragged the few sentries from the building as she took the last one, the building exploded.

She then zip-cuffed the men to the lamppost at a safe distance from the raging inferno.

* * *

Quintin arrived to see a woman in black escaping the explosion. "Freeze!" He commanded as he then continued. "You have been making the lives of the people in Starling difficult! You may not have killed those people, but you are just as culpable."

She deftly knocked her father's gun from his hands and held him in a headlock. She hated doing this. She hated scaring and hurting her father.

He was the only real blood family she had left. "I'm sorry if this hurts Detective." She then released some of the pressure, though she maintained her hold. "Starling is broken, people are perverting the justice system. I'm ensuring that justice finds those who try to escape it. Warner and Hill were dirty. They work for Daniel Brickwell."

She then fled after the sirens echoed down the road to their location. As Quintin watched her flee into the darkness, he couldn't help but feel like he knew who she was.

* * *

Laurel was looking over the memo that Jo had left for her. She didn't understand why Jo would have gone after Brick's son. He was too young and impressionable to be a reliable witness.

She then received a phone call from her father informing her about Joanna's murder.

* * *

After the funeral and burial of her friend, she and her father walked away from the rest of the procession.

It was times like this that she wished Ollie was still with her. Someone to be her rock. Then she was reminded that he was never really her's. He made that clear with Sara and the countless other women he slept with while they were what she believed to be in a loving exclusive relationship with him.

She hated the eternal conflict between love and hate she felt for both Sara and Oliver.

"You alright baby?" Lance asked knowing how it felt to lose someone on the job.

She nodded absently. "I don't know. Jo and I were partners in crime since we got into Law School."

Quintin embraced his distraught daughter. "At least she died doing what she loved. Protecting the city, and fighting the good fight."

She nodded. "I should have done more…I should have stopped him."

Quintin patted her on the back. "I know baby. You have done better than most, saving men, women, and children from horrible fates. Laurel Lance, always save the world."

Laurel looked up at him bewildered. "What?" She all but whispered.

He chuckled as he embraced her again. "I'm a cop and your father. When the puzzle pieces fit, I just knew. And I couldn't be prouder of you baby, not exactly thrilled about it, but proud nonetheless. Just remember not to become the monsters you are fighting. Just promise me that you won't forget who you are in your bones, Laurel."

As much as he felt proud of his daughter, he couldn't help but worry that his daughter was getting over her head.

She held her father tighter. "I will get him, Daddy. For Jo, and all the others."

"I know, and I have your back, Baby." He promised her.

She felt a little better knowing that her father supported her and she at least had an ally on the force.

Her father then kissed her forehead, before speaking. "Oh, by the way. Warner is missing, I thought our mutually acquainting friend may want to know that: Warner's in the wind."

Laurel nodded. "I killed a guy." She blurted out. "In self-defense—Kind of..."

The detective looked at his daughter. "Kind of?"

"I know how this sounds, daddy. But a ninja archer was going to kill me. He had me a point-blank range. Then this…sonic scream erupted out of my mouth and killed him. And I barely feel guilt. Does that mean I'm a bad person?"

Lance kissed his daughter on the forehead. "Baby, how many people have you saved? Including Queen's sister, no one could have faulted you for leaving her to rot, not after what Queen did to you and Sara, but you didn't and in your own confession." He added to lighten the mood a little. "It was self-defense. Nothing in this world could make you a bad person, Laurel."

* * *

Thea found her sister in an old dingy gym. She was hitting the old bag that looked older than Detective Lance.

Thea noticing the older woman's anger emanating through her punches and kicks attempted to lighten the mood. "What did that old bag do to you?"

She kept punching. "I'm not in the mood, Speedy."

And yet, Thea persisted. "Want to talk about it? You seem to have a lot of anger in you."

Laurel gave a hard roundhouse kick to the bag and stepped back watching it swing back and forward like a pendulum. "I have been since I found out your brother cheated on me with my sister!" She practically bellowed at the young brunette and continued to deliver hard hits to the bag.

Thea took a step back, looking hurt.

Laurel immediately felt regret and guilt. She stopped from her training and gently held Thea's hands in her own. "I know it's not your fault Speedy. I'm sorry for lashing out." She then moved closer and hugged her sister, giving her a small kiss on her forehead. "Sometimes, I miss Ollie and Sara so much." She then wiped her face with a towel, removing her sweat and tears. "Then, I remembered what they did."

Laurel then continued as she wiped her face with a towel. "And now… And now, Jo is dead. She's dead because I couldn't stop digging. Everyone that I am close to ends up leaving one way or another. Ollie left on the boat with Sara, my Mother got in her car and drove away, my Dad went into a bottle and has only recently started to emerge, and now Jo…"

"I'm still here Laurel. You helped all those people. Saved those girls at the docks, saved me even when I lied to you and everything that happened with Ollie." She then bit her lip. "A few nights ago, I was sorting out your legal work on Brick…"

Laurel walked over to a bench and picked up a water bottle and took a sip from it before answering. "And?"

"And Tommy saw some of the pages. He has been going to Arthur King and Partners, to copy files. He said that they assumed that it was on behalf of Merlyn Global and that he feels like James Bond. Doing spy stuff."

Laurel laughed at that. It was something that she felt she hadn't done in a while. "So, what did Tommy find out?"

"A whole pile of stuff about their work with Brickwell, as well as Vincent Adler."

Laurel nodded. "Tell Tommy to stop digging and I want you, Speedy to stay away from all this."

Thea shook her head and looked at her sister in her eyes. "I'm not leaving you."

"I'm your older sister." She said in sternly. "It's my job to protect you!" She then packed up her belongings and put on her Wild Cat hoodie, before starting to walk out.

Thea wiped away her tears. "If it's your job to protect me because we're sisters, then I need to learn self-defense, in case you're not capable of helping yourself."

Laurel reluctantly nodded. She couldn't find an argument that wouldn't paint her as a hypocrite. As much as she wanted Thea to stay away from her dangerous world. It was an inevitability that she would eventually be pushed into it.

She already had when she was almost stabbed in the night.

She walked over to her younger sister and taught her how to hit the bag properly for an hour or so. "I have to go Speedy. We will continue your self-defense lessons later." She then adjusted her hoodie and walked towards the door.

Thea called out her name. "Laurel!" She felt her eyes sting from the developing tears. "Last time you went after him, Brick and his archer friend almost killed you!" She wiped her eyes. "I already lost my brother and father; I can't lose  _my_  sister as well."

Laurel turned her head over her shoulder and gave a small smile. "I'm not going anywhere Speedy. And as to The Archer almost killing me, I am remedying that situation as we speak."

As she walked out, she called Caitlin. "Caitlin, I was wondering, is it possible to have strange things emit from the body?"

Caitlin gave a disgusted look. "Like fluids?"

She shook her head. "A sonic blast."

"Like the one from your pellets?" She then ran to grab one of the prototypes Harrison Wells had created and used it on Laurel's larynx.

"You have some sort of anomaly on your throat. It reminds me of a story Dr. Wells once talked about. He once hypothesized enhanced humans with dormant genes. Perhaps this is what is occurring?" She then took her phone from her pocket. "I'll call Cisco and tell him to modify the choker he is making to accommodate your new biology."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are encouraged.


	12. Black Canary

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the final chapter of The Canary of Starling City. I hope you guys enjoy it, and thanks to all those who have shown their support.

That night, Laurel was scouring through the documents that she and Jo had found. Something didn't add up. There was a discrepancy in the logbooks, Tommy had copied for her. She scanned the accompanying documents to find the location.

"The Glades." She mumbled.

* * *

The Canary approached the location in The Glades. As she was sneaking through a window, she heard police talking over their communications.

"Damn." She muttered. She had hoped to avoid a large group of armed foes.

* * *

Warner was playing solitaire with a couple of guards watching him. Then all of a sudden, the police barged through and shot the guards and aimed at her.

She closed her eyes. She knew that this was karma catching up to her. She made a deal with the devil and know she must accept the consequences.

Warner expected to hear a firearm. Only the sound never arrived, neither did the bullet. Instead, he heard people fighting, scuffling and flesh hitting flesh.

She finally opened her eyes to see Starling's Canary. Only she no longer wore here ski mask. The blonde vigilante loomed over her, one fist clenched, the other holding her baton.

The vigilante pursed her dark colored lips before she spoke, her voiced, distorted. "Been looking for you, Lieutenant. I have an offer for you, an opportunity to bring justice to Brickwell and, for you to start to atone for your actions."

Warner shook her head. Her eyes tearing up as she whimpered. "That's not likely. Even if I wanted to, Brickwell owns the SCPD."

"Not all of them. Go straight to either Detectives; Lucas Hilton, or Quintin Lance. Lance, specifically knows a law firm that cannot be bought. They would assist you." She then stood up and flipped the table to the side, frightening the crooked cop. "You better make a B-line to Lance. Any deviation or attempt to flee, I cannot guarantee your safety."

The Canary then ran off into the shadows. Leaving Warner to jump up and back her life-changing decision.

* * *

Lance and Hilton were sitting at their desks discussing one of their cases when Warner came up to them. "Detectives. I need to make a statement."

Quintin and Hilton looked at each other in shock before acquiescing and taking their former colleague into the interrogation room.

Quintin walked out after asking Hilton to keep Warner safe and not to let anyone near her. He then called his daughter. "Laurel, Warner has come to confess, she needs representation."

She then asked if she could speak to her client over the phone, to which Quintin accepted and granted Warner the time to talk to her lawyer.

* * *

Laurel arrived and as meet with her father. "You sure you wanna do this baby?"

She nodded. "She wants to make things right." She then followed her father into the room and sat next to her client.

"So, as I told you on the phone detectives, my client is willing to waive all considerations in regards to immunity and is willing to accept protective custody, for no other reason than to clear her conscious."

Hilton looked over at his partner who clearly looked proud of his daughter. Lance, then nodded his consent to the deal. "What are you confessing to, Lieutenant?"

Werner let out a shuddered breath. "I've accepted bribes from Daniel Brickwell. And I'm not the only person who is dirty. Brickwell has a whole list of people he has greased their palms or blackmailed; from beat cops, all the way up to judges and a couple of senators."

Quintin was happy for his daughter that she was finishing the work that she and Joanna started. "We are going to need names and dates, Lisa."

Warner licked her lips. And started told the two detectives everything she knew.

* * *

Laurel and Thea were sitting in their office when a breaking news segment appeared on the TV.

" _Many people linked to a conspiracy organized by Daniel Brickwell. Daniel Brickwell has been arrested including several judges and a senator. More information will be reported as it comes."_

Laurel grinned and whispered, "We got him, Jo."

Thea patted her sister's back. "Now the whole world knows what we do. That Brick is a scumbag that took advantage of people and is nothing more than a criminal."

The television then interrupted their somewhat premature celebration.

" _The FBI convoy that was escorting Daniel 'Brick' Brickwell has been attacked by what preliminary reports are calling a paramilitary force. While other sources claim it is a part of the police force that has remained loyal to Brickwell that were not discovered by the authorities…"_

Thea turned to look at Laurel. "You go. I will call Tommy or Walter to pick me up. Just, please be careful, Laurel."

"I will Speedy." She promised. She then rushed out the door to head home to change.

* * *

The Canary jumped though Cisco Ramons' fire escape. "I am going to need that equipment."

Cisco nodded and rushed over to his desk and picked up a hard-plastic box that wasn't that much bigger than his hand. It revealed a choker collar when he revealed it to her.

"After Cait told me about your awesome powers, I installed some tech to regulate the pitch and frequency of your sonic blast. It's sitting around the non-lethal range." He gave a small grin. "Consider them training wheels for your badass power."

"I appreciate that you made this so quickly." She said with a mixture of both awe and gratefulness.

"It was my pleasure. And I think you should call it, The Canary Cry."

The Canary smiled. "I like it. Thank you."

* * *

Brickwell was making his way to the helicopter to escape the authorities and lay low in a country without extradition to the United States.

His driver spoke on the radio. "Fifteen minutes until we get to the LZ. I repeat..." He then looked at several yards in front of him. Starling's Canary. "What the hell?"

The Canary then used her Canary Cry. The windshield and the other windows shatter as the truck skids before toppling over.

Brick escaped the wreck. He panted and took note of his surroundings. Until he saw Starling's Canary walk up to him with a baton in her hand. "Daniel Brickwell. I'm the justice you cannot run from!"

He squinted his eyes and shouted. "You? That bitch who has been nothing but a right pain in my arse!?"

"The one and the same." She then hit the driver who had just escaped the wreckage, across the back of the head with her tonfa. When she looked back up, she saw Brick running halfway down the street before disappearing down another road.

She chased after him, finding him attempting to escape through an ally that was blocked off.

He turned around and chortled as he heard the footsteps of his persistent pursuer. "You are a persistent one!" He yelled. "You ruin my plans to help this city. It could have been the beacon it used to be. I cannot forgive you ruining these plans. I'm gonna bash that pretty little face of yours into the cement. Not even your own mother will recognize your ugly mangled mug!"

The Canary sent a few jabs at Brick's face followed by a right hook, The man barely flinched, before Brick eventually overpowering her.

He grabbed her by the collar of her jacket, lifting her in the air, before throwing her to the ground. She hadn't been able to get to her feet before, he grabbed her baton, that had slipped from her hands and proceeded to beat the crap out of her. He changed the direction of each blow, from her face, which he haphazardly blocked with her forearms and her stomach and ribs. He occasionally also sent a few hard kicks to her side.

"This city is broken! You ruined everything!" He bellowed as he continued to hit her.

She weakly used her forearms to shield herself. She could barely breathe, as each blow took the air from her lungs. As she attempted to dodge a blow, she felt something catch around her neck.  _Canary Cry._

Remembering she had her cry, she blasted her cry in his face, Brick stumbled back dropping her nightstick, clutching his ears.

She snatched her baton from the concrete and proceeded to swing it. The force of the attack sent the large man to the ground.

"This is my city. My family. My responsibility!" She panted, as The Canary sluggishly managed to stand up.

After hearing what she said, he spat out a tooth, leaving him a bloody smile and his teeth a reddish coating. "You really think that one person. Can make a difference?"

Laurel hesitated for a second before answering. "I do." She then sent a final kick to his head, rendering him unconscious. She looked down at the uncurious form at her feet and panted.

She then heard a police siren blare as it came into the ally. Lance jumped out pointing his gun at the unconscious Brickwell. He then looked at his daughter who was sporting a bloody lip, and the start of a couple of nasty bruises forming on her face. "You alright?"

She smiled, though clutching her ribs. "Yeah. I got him."

"You did, Baby Girl." Lance then reported that he had apprehended an unconscious Daniel Brickwell. He looked back up to his daughter. "Get out of here!" He said. "Black Canary." He added with a hint of a smile.

Lance watched as his Baby Girl, gave a small nod before she ran jumped above a dumpster, before pulling herself up to the fire escape and escaping into the night, all with the grace of a panther.

* * *

Thea was sitting on Laurel's desk as they looked at the news. A blurry photograph of a woman wearing black leather and blonde hair was shown as the reporter discussed the vigilante.

Thea muted the television as she turned to her sister with a grin. "Black Canary, huh?"

"The color coding is a nice touch." She added, with a small smile.

Thea giggled as she nudged Laurel with her shoulder. "Who is CNRI gunning for now?"

Laurel walked over to a filing cabinet and handed her a manila folder with the name  _Adam Hunt, attached._ She then walked over to another filing cabinet and threw a small black and gold duffle bag at Thea's feet, who unzipped it.

"Gym clothes?"

"I had my mentor send me a pair of gym clothes for you in black and gold. I think that it would suit you."

Thea took out the black jacket that had a dark golden hood. "It's perfect." She then looked up to see her surrogate sister lift up her own bag and walking towards the door. "Where are you going?"

Laurel looked over her shoulder and smirked. "Training, and trying my hand at teaching. Let's go, let's see what you've got, Speedy."

"Worst Nickname ever." She groaned as she followed her friend out of their office.

* * *

**A Few Months Later**

A small group of thieves was trying to evade their pursuers. During the escape, one was tackled by a cop. Only for the officer to end up at gunpoint.

The criminal then was swiftly pulled into the darkness of the adjacent alley and was knocked out.

As the cop walked closer to the alley, he saw a figure dressed in black with a golden hood, as she climbed her way up the fire escape. She had left the run-away thief zip-cuffed to a steel bollard.

Speedy grabbed her radio as she ran across the rooftops. "Canary, this is so cool. I just saved a police officer."

In a nearby restaurant, the Black Canary grabbed one of the run-away criminals and proceeded to punch him in the face and disarm him, before tying the man to one of the legs of the closest kitchen bench. She then turned and faced one of the kitchen staff members. "Call 911."

She then pursued the other two criminals. As she heard her sister on the comms. "Careful Speedy."

"I thought I told you to call me Golden Archer, or Artemis."

She preferred Artemis that way she would be similar to Laurel and her mentor, who both took on animals as their name. Artemis was the god of the hunt and of wild animals.

"That seems tacky. And you will always be Speedy to me." Black Canary responded with a hint of teasing lacing her tone.

Speedy eventually found the last two men evading arrest. She pulled out her bow and arrow as the man tried to hijack a car. She fired and hit the man in the shoulder and caused him to hit his head on the windscreen, knocking him out.

She jumped down to the driver. "Call an ambulance and wait for the cops to pick him up." The middle-aged woman nodded quickly and pulled out her phone. While Speedy ran off following her sister who had continued to pursue the final assailant.


End file.
